


Meow

by AnthonyEStark



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Bit of Drama, Cats!, Fluff, FrostIron - Freeform, Kittens, Loki x Tony - Freeform, M/M, Magic Gone Wrong, Romance, Teensy Bit of Angst, mainly fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-27
Updated: 2015-03-25
Packaged: 2018-01-02 19:53:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 34
Words: 37,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1060931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnthonyEStark/pseuds/AnthonyEStark
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Was Tony obsessed with Loki? A bit. Was he so obsessed that he wanted to be Loki's pet? Not really. Well, you know what they say; curiosity killed the cat.</p><p>Tony is turned into a kitten by Loki and finds out a lot about the trickster while in his care. The god, however, has no idea that Stark is the cat he's decided to look after.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Stalking

 

**Meow.**

 

**Chapter 1 – Stalking**

Finding Loki's evil lair was easier said than done. After relentless research and producing ground-breaking magic detectors, Tony had finally narrowed down where Loki was living to an apartment not that far from the Avengers Tower. Was it stalking or research? The billionaire didn't know any more.

It was a Thursday evening and he had nothing better to do so, after a long argument with himself over whether he needed his iron suit, Tony decided to check out his results by investigating the possible evil lair. The genius was dressed in casual attire – jeans and a jumper – with huge sunglasses and a beanie hat; he could be recognised easily if somebody looked close enough but he just intended to say nothing and leave before Loki guessed who he was. He was glad that nobody else knew of the searching for the trickster that had occupied a good few months because then it wouldn't have been so easy to just walk out of his tower and over to the apartment without anybody trying to convince his common sense that he _needed_ his suit. It wasn't until he reached door 42A that he thought that perhaps he should've at least brought a weapon. No. He was here only to see if the trickster was actually living here and then he'd leave quickly before the god recognised who he was.

The door was on the latch, surprisingly, and was opened easily with a slight nudge as Tony went to knock. Behind it, a dark hallway with a few doors in it stretched off to a point the billionaire couldn't quite tell considering it was so dark. The only light was coming from the lights where he stood and around the edges of the first door to the left, an eerie green light that definitely wasn't normal. Tony cautiously stepped into the hallway, trying to not make a sound because A) he didn't want to be caught going into a random person's house if Loki wasn't here and B) he didn't want to be caught going into Loki's house if he did live here. He wasn't sure which situation would be easiest to try and talk out; "Hi, I've just walked into your house because I thought a criminal was living here." or "Oh hi Loki, I managed to find where you live by stalking you and it worked!"? The billionaire prayed to whatever god was up there that he wasn't caught.

Tony crept almost ninja-like over to the door with the creepy green glow, leaving the front door open for light and a quick escape, and pressed his ear to the wood, hoping to hear what was causing the light. All he could hear was heavy breathing and a faint humming sound that didn't sound like any machine he's ever encountered, and as a mechanic he's heard a _lot_ of machines. His curiosity was almost unbearable after a few seconds of listening to the room just inches from where he stood so he gripped the handle firmly and hoped for the best. Tony Stark wasn't known for his patience but his bravery.

The door opened smoothly until it hit a slightly squishy obstacle in it's way; he assumed it was someone sitting or standing behind the door because the heavy breathing stopped momentarily and he noticed how close the sound of breathing was on the other side of the wood. His breath caught in his throat, he was doomed. Before he could turn to run, a stupidly bright light filled the room. It was like he was looking into the sun itself.

The light died down after a couple of seconds, even though it felt like too long, and Tony had to blink quite a lot before he stopped seeing dots dancing in the air. Two things made him almost have a heart attack: the walls around him seemed to have grown a lot, like he was only about a foot tall, and the trickster god, dressed in just a black vest and jeans, towering over him. Loki was very tall. Very tall. A lot taller than when he last saw him. Tony was just over ankle-height on him.

"Fuck." The billionaire said just as the trickster cooed "Aww! Hello little kitty cat!"

Loki's words didn't register immediately as Tony realised that he didn't speak, he meowed. And then he finally realised that he had been turned into a cat.

He was a fucking _cat._

And he was a tiny kitten, as if being an animal wasn't bad enough!

Loki picked him up easily and carried the shocked genius over to a shabby black couch on the over side of what Tony assumed was the living room. The god gave him a reasuring smile and said he was off to get Tony some food before leaving swiftly out the door. The billionaire was too shocked to even attempt to speak again; five minutes ago he was being a ninja and now he was a cat and in Loki's house.

Was Tony obsessed with Loki? A bit.

Was he so obsessed that he wanted to be Loki's pet? Not really.

Well, you know what they say; curiosity killed the cat.


	2. Sympathy

 

**Chapter 2 – Sympathy**

He could feel the presence of something unusual in the air; it was like a fog that he was able to see through, but still irritating. It had been around for a while now but it reached it's strongest recently. Loki wasn't sure what it was at first but when it became clear that it wasn't just another magical force and indeed a magic _detector_ , he realised that something had to stop it. Mages like himself could feel magic at all times, like the hum of electricity, but this presence was like a shadow that had no reason to be there. And the worst thing was that he knew it was intended for _him_.

Midgardians weren't supposed to have this sort of technology, they were not that advanced yet, so it must be someone else trying to find him. A past enemy perhaps, back for revenge? Loki had no shortage of beings who wanted his head on a silver platter. He wasn't currently powerless but his magic was still a bit squiffy at times, he'd never be able to defend himself.

He wasn't going to admit that he was scared, no, he was... concerned. Gods were never scared.

After a not-so-dramatic escape from Asgard's "finest" cell, the trickster had sought refuge and a new start on Earth. Ending up in New York, though, was just his bad luck and dodgy teleporting – he wanted a deserted house in the middle of nowhere but it was better than nothing. The reason for Earth was most definitely _not_ because it was where Thor went to the most, other than Asgard, it's because it was the safest option for somebody trying to sort out their magic.

As a master of survival, he found an abandoned apartment that didn't look like it was going to have any potential buyers, and decided to rest there until somewhere better appeared. It was cold, dark, and the neighbours were very loud, but it couldn't be any worse than living on the streets. Oh, and he has no keys so he has to keep the door on the latch at all times, or use power-consuming lock opening magic which he really couldn't be bothered with, but it was better than nothing. Loki had a positive attitude about his new residence and he was going to keep thinking that way for as long as possible.

Loki was very good at blending in with the crowds, using a spell that drew attention away from himself, so he was able to travel out of his apartment without any trouble. He was just out for an evening stroll, because being stuck in a dark room all day was seriously boring for anybody, when he felt the hum of the magic detector stronger than ever. The potential enemy was close. The god was standing outside the Avengers Tower but it couldn't have been the arc reactor in there, he was used to it's electrical presence by now, and he highly doubted that the iron guy would have a magic detector. What was his name again? ... Star? Stork? Stark! That Stark guy was a genius but not smart enough to figure out how something as complex as magic works.

He was doomed.

The god practically ran back to his apartment, and was so lost in thought that he nearly slammed the door before remembering to leave it on the latch. He slumped down just behind his living room door – there was no time to get to the sofa – and began to weave a difficult spell, even for a mage of his standard, to attempt and hide his magical presence from whoever was searching. It created a green glow that he normally found quite pretty, but his mind was only focused on getting this correct. It tired him almost suddenly after he started casting it and his breathing was becoming laboured, due to his lack of using magic lately. One mistake and he'd probably end up turning the only other thing in the room, a tattered sofa that was left here by it's past owners, into a toaster or another random object. Toasters were useless when there was no electricity.

The spell flawed slightly when he lost himself in his thoughts so he carried on without getting distracted. His sofa was probably going to end up as a dog now...

Without a sound, the door next to him swung open and bashed into his shoulder. It startled Loki badly and caused him to muck up the spell, a bright light filling the room from all of the energy escaping. He was used to mucking up magic by now so it didn't affect his eyes as badly as it used to.

The light dimmed to nothingness after a few seconds and the first thing Loki did was check to see if his sofa had survived; it was still the same as ever, thankfully, but the god was confused as to why it hadn't been affected, normally the wasted magical energy would end up transforming something, or someone. He shrugged it off as a result of his weakened magic.

He stood up and went to close the offending door, pissed off that it had interrupted a _very_ important spell, when he noticed that the front door was open and shining the glow of street lamps into his hallway. Was someone in his house? Was it the enemy trying to find him? He tensed up immediately, expecting to see someone else nearby, but quickly relaxed when he saw what had pushed open the door.

There was a dark brown kitten standing by his feet, blinking quickly as a result of the blinding light Loki had just caused. It looked up at the trickster and he saw it was as confused as he was. On closer inspection, Loki could see a large white circle on the kittens chest, a strangely perfect circle.

The god stared at the cat as it stared right back at him with them worried eyes; he'd never felt so sympathetic towards anything else before. Defending himself from potential evil could wait, he felt the need to help this innocent creature – it was the cutest thing he'd ever seen.

It didn't even occur to him to think how the tiny cat managed to open up the living room door when it required the handle to be used.


	3. Hunger

**Chapter 3 – Hunger**

Loki had obviously closed the front door on his way to the kitchen, because the living room was now pitch black and Tony-kitty couldn't see past his cute little kitten nose. No, he wasn't cute, he was a fierce feline. He didn't purr, he growled.

The billionaire was glad that he was used to crazy situations happening suddenly because it kind of helped him stay at least the slightest bit sane. It was hard to not go crazy when he was magically turned into a cat and now sitting in Loki's house, but Tony Stark was known for being a remarkable guy.

He was going to be killed by Loki, he was sure of it. Why else would a crazy Norse god keep him in his house if it wasn't to kill him? He would be poisoned, or his throat would be slit, or it would be a magic-caused death, and then he'd be skinned so that his fur could decorate Loki's clothes and the god would eat the little meat that was on his body. He saw the hungry look in his eyes, cleverly disguised as sympathy, but Tony was too scared to even move. He was sure he was placed under a shock-spell, he was never scared.

He was going to die.

Nobody would probably even try looking for him until his fur was glitzing up Loki's handbag; he had previously told everyone he knew to not bothering him when he was working, they probably thought he was working on a new iron suit or something else eccentric. Even Pepper wouldn't enter the tower for another week – she only turned up when she needed something important signing since she started dating Happy. Yep, even Tony fucking Stark didn't have a girlfriend, or boyfriend, he didn't really mind to be honest.

He was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard footsteps approaching the living room, Loki had only been away for about a minute and it wasn't long enough for the still-shocked billionaire.

He was definitely going to die today. 

Loki reappeared in the doorway seconds later, holding a steaming plate of cubed chicken that smelt delicious, with a faint green glow surrounding his body; it wasn't very bright but it allowed Tony to see the god and it lit up the room a little bit. Clever, he really needed magic to do that because he was always stubbing his toe in his workshop when it was dark.

He looked around the living room, using the light from Loki to see, as the god slowly walked towards him, like he was trying to not startle the kitten. _Honestly? He was scared the moment he entered the damn apartment._ There was a small coffee table next to the sofa Tony was sat on and, other than that, the room was completely empty. Even the walls were blank and painted a lifeless white, with a small window to Tony's left, opposite the door, which was pretty much useless while it was early night time. It didn't take a genius to work out that Loki was squatting in this apartment.

His attention was quickly drawn back to the god who was now only a foot away and the food that he was holding; Tony had eaten just before he left on his quest to find Loki but his cat-senses made him really want, no, _need_ to eat right then.

That chicken took far too fast to cook, maybe it wasn't even cooked? _Was Loki trying to give him food poisoning? Did cats even get food poisoning?_ Tony didn't know much about cats, other than they meowed and were fuzzy; but he did know that chicken didn't take thirty seconds to cook. Oh wait, Loki could have just used magic. Damn magic. He instantly wondered if he could get magic poisoning instead. He didn't want the food that much now, but it wasn't enough to make him not hunger for it.

Today was doubtlessly, uncontrollably, the day he was going to day.

The trickster sat with a dull squeak next to him – Tony's body subconsciously flinched away from Loki due to a previous experience involving a window and being thrown out of it. He plucked up his courage, sat up straight, and looked the god in the eye – nobody would scare Tony Stark – just to feel smaller than ever when he saw Loki looking down on him sympathetically. It was an understatement to say that it was weird to see Loki so calm, he almost looked... sane. _Was this really the guy who tried to take over the world?_ The god's eyes were soft, along with the rest of his face, and Tony would even go as far as saying that the man looked really attractive like this, although he did think the leather was a turn on for him.

Even though he wouldn't admit it, the billionaire really fancied Loki; stalking the guy 24/7 made him kind of like the psychopath. Even after all of the crap that had happened that day, he was still pleased that he had managed to find Loki and was within touching distance now. Tony couldn't tear his eyes away from the emerald ones gazing into his own, the flawless face that he wanted to stroke, the luscious black hair that he wanted to run his hands through, the lips curled into a soft smile that he wanted his own to meet...

_Focus Tony. This guy is probably going to kill you._

"It's okay kitty, I'm not going to hurt you." The trickster's smile grew bigger and Tony had a hard time believing that this guy was evil.

Loki picked up a cube of the chicken off the plate on his lap, pausing to make sure that Tony wouldn't run away, before slowly reaching over to hold it just in front of the kitty's face. The genius eyed it warily, checking for signs of poisoning, and took a tiny bite out of the irresistible food. He didn't even have to think about it before he came to the conclusion that Loki was possibly the greatest cook on the face of the Earth, and that made him even hotter.

 _"Thanks,"_ Tony attempted to speak again but it just came out as another, meow; it didn't surprise him as much though this time.

"Aww you're a cute kitty. Are you lost? Do you have a home to go back to?" Loki cooed to him but, before Tony could meow again, the trickster started to stroke his stomach and it was the greatest feeling he had ever experienced. He couldn't help but purr because his senses had just gone into overload.

"I'll look after you," the god said as he fed Tony another piece of chicken that he gladly took without hesitation. All concerns about Loki had left his mind completely, he had proved that he did have a kind heart somewhere in that very good physique. He meowed another time to show the trickster that he wanted to stay with him; he had nowhere else to go as a cat, he couldn't talk so nobody would know it's him, and who else could turn him back to a human? Tony could have turned himself back himself considering he did have quite a good understanding of magic now, but he was a cat and they didn't have thumbs, which were vital for building machines.

Loki stopped the stroking on the kitten's stomach and Tony looked up to see the god looking at him but not quite seeing him, like he was lost in thought. The billionaire mewed to snap the trickster out of his musing, he saw the focus return to him and a soft smile spread across Loki's face.

"Sorry kitty, I was just thinking about... stuff. I'm Loki by the way," Tony found it slightly weird that the last time that he had looked into the god's eyes like this he was about to be thrown out of a window, and Loki was introducing himself so there was no doubt that the genius was recognised.

"You need a name," the trickster looked to be pondering what to call Tony, genuinely caring about what would suit the lost little kitten, "How about... Minion?" 

Before the billionaire could protest, Loki rethought the name choice, "Actually, how about Stark? Yeah, that sounds better."

Tony's breath caught in his throat and he was sure his heart skipped a beat. _Did Loki know who he really was? Why else would he have called him by his real name?_ He should have known that the trickster knew all along, why was he so stupid to think that the god was oblivious to turning a human into a fucking cat? This was all an act, he was going to be skinned alive while he sleeps, lured into a false sense of security. He was a stupid, stupid man for thinking that Loki had changed and he was a fool for believing the act and actually liking it.

"That circle on your chest reminded me of Stark's arc reactor and, even though he probably wouldn't approve of it, you kind of act like him too. So, I hope you like my humble abode Stark." Loki's face was still soft, no trace of evil or mischief in his eyes, but he wasn't going to fool Tony Stark because _he_ knew what the god's plan was.

Loki put a hand over his mouth to cover a yawn, "I'm tired so I'm off to bed I guess. You're sleeping on the couch for now, unless you want to sleep on the end of my bed; sorry about the lack of options. Goodnight Stark," and then he ruffled up the fur on Tony's head before walking out the door and to his bed, which Tony assumed was at the end of the dark hallway.

The billionaire didn't know what to think; Loki didn't seem to know who he was, but then Tony couldn't trust the god of lies, so he didn't know what to do. One thing was certain though, he was sure that this was all an act so that the trickster could kill him easily so he had to be alert at all times. No more getting distracted, no more believing what he said, no more checking out his ass every now and then, he had to play along and then escape when the opportunity presented itself.

Tony, even though he wouldn't admit it to anybody, did want to see what Loki's bed was like but his main concern was staying as far away from the god as possible, so he stayed on the sofa.

 


	4. Lonely

**Chapter 4 – Lonely**

Mornings were the same for Loki lately and today was no exception to that rule; the same sun burned through his eyelids, the same neighbours had the same racket playing out of their stereo, he was still alone in the same bed. He quite liked living by himself after his time in prison while he was on Asgard, but he would be lying if he said that he didn't want some company.

He didn't want to open his eyes because he knew that all he would see was the same plain walls surrounding his uncomfortable single bed, the two wooden doors opposite him leading to the bathroom and the hallway, and the window to his right letting in that annoying sunlight. The only interesting things in the bedroom were two large bookshelves stacked with various novels, and he'd read almost every book there; they were all crap books, obviously, because the previous owners had just left them there.

If he squeezed his eyes shut hard enough and imagined with all his might, he could almost convince himself that he was currently lying in his giant bed in his lavishly decorated room back in Asgard. He made himself believe that Thor would come bounding through the door any second now to tell him to wake up before he missed breakfast and that mother would be annoyed with him if he wasn't present, trying to act annoyed but failing badly like always. Loki would grumble a half-hearted threat at his brother, who would laugh and tell him that he'd miss breakfast with him too, now sitting at the trickster's feet and tickling him until he finally slumped out of bed and off to the dining hall.

Mother would tell them off for being late, but with a soft smile on her face, as she gave them both a breakfast fit for a king, or two princes in this case, and Thor would end up eating practically both of theirs but Loki was too full from what he had eaten to care. They would talk about the people of Asgard and what everyone was doing, until they felt less sick and ran off to play Tag in the vast castle and its gardens. Thor would be the fastest runner, but always slowed down a bit for his younger brother to catch up, and ended up almost falling over from laughing too much; Loki would be laughing too because he felt so carefree and grateful that he was blessed with a life where all his work was just playing games with his beloved big brother.

When it got into early afternoon, though, Thor would go off to adventure with his best friends, leaving his brother alone. Loki never missed the way they looked down on him like he was a freak and laughed at the younger prince when he begged Thor to stay with him for the day instead, not wanting to have nothing else to do but sit around and read while he knew that his brother was talking about him behind his back. He had stopped crying about it long ago, but he still felt a bit more depressed after every day when he was lonely with no friends other than his brother, and even he'd rather be with other people.

Loki remembered when he was hit by his own father for practising magic instead of wanting to fight battles like Thor. He remembered when Odin told the two brothers that they'd both have an equal chance of being the next king, but it was never actually going to be anyone but the favourite thunder-god. The memories came flooding back within seconds, removing the warmth the god felt when he remembered home; finding out that he was adopted _and_ a Frost Giant – a monster, falling from the Bifrost when he wanted nothing more than to die, being tortured and mind controlled by the Chitauri so that he'd get them the Tesseract, seeing the disappointment that border-lined hate in his own brother's eye when they were reunited, wanting to scream out that he was still the same person as before but not being in control of his own actions, seeing the way the Avengers despised him, seeing how Stark despised him...

Loki told himself that he'd always end up being left alone so that he wasn't disappointed when it actually happened.

He opened his eyes to see the plain room, exactly how he knew it would be, surrounding him, reminding him that he'd lost everything. With a sigh, he trudged over to the bathroom to shower, thankful that the water hadn't been cut off, yet. He turned the water the coldest it would go - as a Frost Giant it didn't feel any different to lukewarm water; it was possibly the only thing that had ever made him thankful that he was a freak of nature. He got dressed in grey tracksuit bottoms and a baggy black jumper – he had to sell quite a bit of the stuff that was left in the apartment, like the television and radio, so that he had a bit of money; it wasn't much, but it was enough to clothe himself and purchase food.

Before leaving his room, he picked up a large, leather-bound book from the shelf by the door, turning it around a few times in his hands as he walked down the hallway and entered the living room. His still damp hair had left a trail of water drops behind him as he walked over to the sofa, hoping that the book he had chosen was good enough to make him forget his own miserable life for a while.

The trickster nearly sat on Stark before he heard the soft purring coming from the kitten, mentally slapping himself for almost crushing the cute little cat. Trying to not disturb Stark, Loki sat on the seat next to him and took a minute to examine the kitten's little pink nose, his soft brown fur, the perfect circle on his chest only just visible behind his paws, as he opened the book in his hand to the first chapter.

He had called the kitten Stark not just because of the circle on its chest, but also because he kind of wanted it to be the real Stark. He couldn't help the way he felt when he first met the man, when he saw billboards around the city with his face on, when he saw the way that metal suit hugged his body... But a billionaire wouldn't like someone like himself, and he was one of the Avengers so that made him practically off limits. _Why did he have to like the one man he couldn't have?_

Even though it was meant to be good, the book was the most platitudinous thing he had ever read in his many years of immortal life, and he had to stop reading after two pages so that he didn't fall asleep again. The story was about two brothers who were different but worked well together to overcome problems - kind of like himself and Thor. No. He did _not_ stop reading it because it reminded him of his 'brother'. He did not stop reading it because it reminded him of the family he lost through his selfishness.

Stark seemed to know that Loki was on the verge of falling back into the depression he has only recently escaped, because he woke up with a loud yawn that broke the god's train of thought. Loki looked down to see the kitten roll around stretching for a bit, narrowly stopping himself from stroking that soft fur because it might startle Stark. _If this was the real Stark, he wouldn't be able to keep his hands off of him._

He really needed to learn the billionaire's first name. He was annoyed with his memory yet too arrogant to look it up so it would probably take some time before he found it out.

"Good morning Stark," he said as softly as he could when he felt as though the kitten was fully awake now; he was quickly disappointed when the cat froze, warily looked up at him, and then ran off in a hurry like it was terrified of the god.

The happiness from seeing possibly the cutest cat in the nine realms wake up was quickly replaced with sorrow, a familiar feeling that Loki was used to after a lifetime of never being allowed to be truly happy.

His own family didn't want him and now he was sure that even his cat hated him, he was lonely yet again.


	5. Curiosity

 

**Chapter 5 – Curiosity**

Tony would have been lying if he said that he wasn't shit scared when he woke up that morning. He was peaceful and calm, about to ask Jarvis to turn down the lights, until he saw Loki looking down on him and then sudden realisation hit him – it wasn't a dream, he actually was turned into a kitten and had just slept on a crazy god's sofa.

After a swift exit, Tony stood just outside of the door alone and realised that he hadn't been in any rooms other than the hallway and living room. There was still two more doors left to look in - the sunlight illuminated the not-as-long-as-he-thought hallway and he felt a bit less claustrophobic knowing that there wasn't just two rooms he could wander around. He might have been a cat, but he was a guest and something inside of him stopped him from looking around at his own will, especially when he feared that Loki would kill him for being somewhere that he shouldn't.

The thought of the god made Tony remember that Loki was still in the living room behind him and could step out at any second, squishing the little billionaire like an ant. _An ant has no quarrel with a boot._ He remembered the trickster saying something like that when he first stole the Tesseract right from the top secret S.H.I.E.L.D. base; the guy looked like he had gone to Hel and back, and seen some dreadful things along the way, yet he stood up to Fury like he was nothing but an annoying hindrance in his master plan. He peeked around the door to see Loki perched in the same spot on the sofa, looking a bit sad but otherwise his emotions were unreadable as he seemed lost in thought.

Because of his damn conscience not letting him look through the other doors, Tony creeped back through the door and sat by the armrest, next to Loki but out of sight. He was considering doing a little meow to let the god know of his presence – because he didn't like to see him looking sad, even if he was going to possibly going to be killed by him – when Loki suddenly stood up and strode over to the door, but Tony could see that he was feeling cautious about something. He heard the front door shut carefully and then the apartment seemed even more silent.

_Well, bye then._

While he had some spare time, he decided to make the most of it and look around. He didn't find much though; there was a kitchen opposite the living room door that consisted of two cupboards, an old microwave and a sink, a bedroom with just one single bed and a library's worth of books, and a little bathroom that was so small the shower was bigger than actual floor space. Tony wondered whether he should offer Loki a bed at the tower just to get the god out of this crappy little apartment, maybe his bed.

He jumped up on to the bed with ease, startled until he realised that he was still a cat, and was surprised at how such a shabby looking bed was so damn comfy. Tony considered taking a quick nap until the god returned but changed his mind the moment he caught sight of the desk opposite him, covered in papers that seemed out of place, even in this tattered residence. Hopping off of the bed and going over the desk, Tony wondered if his curiosity had been amplified when he was struck by magic.

There were papers scattered around on the desk and, once he had leaped up on to the chair using his new-found cat skills, Tony found that they were all fact files on the Avengers. The god obviously had some sort of fanboy thing going on because he had done some very intensive research, random facts about the Avengers were everywhere the billionaire looked. He found a folder with _Stark_ written on it in an eloquent script that must have taken years to perfect, and nudged it open carefully before being amazed at how much the trickster knew. All the folders seemed to be gathering dust so he assumed Loki hadn't looked at them for ages. The billionaire was stuck between being amazed and scared as he read everything from basic facts on himself, to a newspaper clipping of him at sea with the caption "Tony and his pirate ship" - he couldn't even remember doing that so it must have been ages ago when that was taken, he definitely looked younger in the picture.

The moment he saw a picture of his room though, he stopped reading immediately and shut the folder as quickly as he could while he was a kitten with no thumbs, this was getting too creepy for him. Loki seemed to know _everything_ about the Avengers, but the surprising thing was that Tony's fact file was by far the biggest; it was at least double the folder about Steve – which had _Soldier_ scribbled onto the side. _Heck, he probably even knows that movie nights are epic with the Avengers._

He wandered back into the living room after trying to make it seem as though the papers hadn't been touched, trying to rid himself of a weird feeling in his mind; he was being stalked by the trickster god and it was weird, but he had been stalking the god too so it was kind of equal then. _Why was he slightly happy that Loki was possibly as obsessed with Tony as he was obsessed with the god?_

Tony jumped when the large slam of the front door echoed through the small residence, followed by footsteps running through the hallway and the sound of somebody slumping down on the little bed. Curiosity may had killed the cat but this billionaire was far too curious to resist creeping over to the bedroom door to find out what had happened, because it could only be Loki that had ran in.

It wasn't until he looked into the room that he realised that he could also hear sniffling; Loki was sitting on the end of his bed with his head in his hands and crying.


	6. Anguish

 

**Chapter 6 – Anguish**

 

**WARNING: Mentions of suicide.**

As if feeling rejected within an hour of waking up wasn't enough, today was Friday so the trickster had to go and meet Thor.

The thunder-god knew about Loki's escape from Asgard and, because he feels as though his brother has changed, allowed the other god to live on Earth as long as they met every week. Just before Loki left Asgard, he bumped into Thor and used their short time together to explain why he started a war with the Avengers; it took a long while for him to think about it, but he eventually decided that it was best for Loki to learn how to behave by being treated like a Midgardian.

As he left his apartment he changed his clothes, using the power of magic, into a plain black shirt, light jeans, military boots and a long black leather jacket that hung to about Loki's knees. Thor and him had agreed to meet up in the park nearest to where Loki lived because there was a lot of open space so that the thunder-god could use the Bifrost, and it wasn't busy enough for the both of them to be recognised easily.

By the time he got there, it was only about five minutes away from his apartment, Thor was already sat on a bench by himself, under a couple of trees so that the shade hid his features from the others in the park. He stood up when he saw he saw Loki and pulled him into a bone crushing hug; the trickster escaped his brother's tight grip after a minute of struggling and grumbled when he saw that his jacket had been squished out of its normal shape.

"Brother!"

"Thor." Loki was trying his hardest to stay calm and not start yelling at the other god for crumpling his clothes, like what he normally did; he needed to prove that he was a better person now so that he wouldn't have to attend these stupid meetings every week.

"Father is still looking for you, but he has ruled out Midgard and started searching the other nine realms instead. You're lucky you put up your wards when you did." The thunder-god was speaking slowly like he was talking to a wild animal which annoyed Loki a lot, he didn't want to be treated with care, he wanted to be left alone.

"He's a fool if he can't see past such basic sorcery." He knew that he shouldn't of said that, and regretted it right away, but his natural instincts made him say it before he could stop.

Thor's demeanour changed instantly and, before Loki could apologise for giving in to old habits, thunder clouds started forming above the park – thank goodness it already looked like it was going to rain. "How dare you insult the king, Odin?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"It always has been and it always will be the same with you, you think of yourself as better than the rest but you're too stubborn to realise that you aren't exactly perfect. You even refuse my help! You say that you can handle things yourself, but until you come to terms with what you have lost through selfishness, you will never be the better person you're fooling yourself into thinking you've become." Thor had had enough, he was sick and tired of Loki's bigheadedness and how he refused help from anybody. He had given up on all hope of getting his younger brother back when Loki let go of him on purpose and fell into the abyss. _Was it his fault?_ Yes, he left his brother alone to go adventuring with his friends but, in his defence, he assumed that the trickster would be able to find at least one person to be friends with. It's not his fault that Loki had insulted and pranked everyone in Asgard. It's not his fault that his brother is practically begging to be unliked by everyone.

"You've not changed one bit; you're still the same delusional, power-mad kid you've always been. I was a fool to allow you to escape prison." The thunder-god turned his back to Loki and started to walk to a suitable place to open the Bifrost from – the clouds that he had summoned were starting to rain over New York.

"But I have changed! I just let my old habits get the better of me, sorry."

"You always have been a talented liar, Loki. It's a shame that I can no longer pretend that you're telling the truth for once." The park was deserted thanks to the rain, so it wasn't hard to find a clear patch of grass to teleport from.

"But, brother-"

"You're not my brother any more and I doubt you ever will be again." It was impossible to miss the sadness and heartbreak in the god's voice just before he disappeared in a flash of light, "Goodbye Loki. It was nice knowing the real you for a short time."

~x~

Loki ran back to his apartment, focused on trying to get rid of the tears prickling at his eyes and not caring about the rain; the second he slammed the door behind him, though, he couldn't stop the tears from streaming down his face and the short dash to his bedroom was as blurry as his mind right then. He slumped down on his bed and buried his face in his hands.

The trickster was normally so good at not reacting to hateful words but after hearing them come from his own brother, the one person left who he assumed still cared, was the final shove to push him over the edge. Loki sobbed harder as he remembered the way the thunder-god looked at him with pure resentment, it was the same hate that was present when Loki was being mind controlled, yet it was different now that he was responsible for his own actions. He had no family, no friends, no home, nobody liked him, nobody cared, nobody would give a shit if he just dropped dead right then.

That started a new train of thought within his distraught mind, something that he hadn't thought of since he thought his life was doomed and let himself fall off of the Bifrost. _Maybe I should just end it all now?_ It would save the pain and disappointment, and nobody would give a damn anyway. He had made up his mind.

Before he actually carried out what he intended to do, though, he felt something soft nuzzling against his shin – and also realised that he hadn't changed his clothes back yet. Slowly, he raised his head, tears still flowing down his cheeks, to see Stark looking up at him worried. He couldn't just leave this poor little kitten alone, it needed him. The realisation that there was still something, even if it was just a kitten, out there that cared for him left a warm glow in the trickster's heart.

"I'm sorry Stark. Did I scare you?" It came out almost as a whisper through his sobbing but the kitten seemed to hear it because the nuzzling started again, almost as if it was pleading to be picked up. Loki carefully lifted up Stark, who was happy to finally be on the god's lap, and started to stroke his furry stomach.

"I'm alright now you're here. I promise that I'll never leave you," Loki cooed to the kitten who was starting to look less scared, "I visited my brother today and he said some very... nasty words, but I doubt I'll see him again so it's okay I guess."

He knew that he was talking to a cat that probably couldn't understand him and couldn't reply, but it was comforting to tell his troubles to somebody that actually listened, and those large brown eyes were understanding, an emotion that he hadn't seen in anyone for a long time.

Stark's stomach growled, which sounded a lot louder than it actually was due to the silence. "Come on, I'll get you something to eat and then we'll get some sleep."


	7. Attraction

**Chapter 7 – Attraction**

_"Jarvis, turn the lights down already,"_ or as he heard it, "Meow."

Tony jumped only slightly before realisation hit him and he sighed, _I really need to get used to that..._ He was still a cat but he was kind of enjoying it now, especially since it involved him being so close to the god right now.

Last night he felt as though Loki needed some comfort, so he went over to do what he would only do to his closest friends, attempt to hug them. He didn't know why he felt such a strong surge of emotion towards the trickster, but the man needed comfort and seeing as though there was nobody else who would even go near him, Tony had stepped up to the job, surprisingly, without thinking about it. This broken god wouldn't kill him, he wouldn't harm him at all, he just wanted to look after his new pet properly and the billionaire felt really guilty for ever doubting him. Even though he didn't like to see him cry, he liked the side of the god that was caring rather than crazy.

Thor mysteriously being busy every Friday was suddenly so clear now he knew why. Although he never really cared about anyone other than himself, and if he found out the Loki was in New York, would have invited himself along so he can try out some of his new cheesy chat-up lines.

Ever since Pepper told him that he was far too reckless to be her boyfriend any more, he had locked himself up in his workshop even more than usual and stopped himself from going insane by studying a certain god 24/7, fuelled on coffee and Red Bull until he fell asleep for days and then started it all over again. _Wasn't he already crazy though?_ She had been his best friend for years but, after he carried a nuke into space, she left him for his other friend, Happy. He _did_ remind her that he called her when he was about to go into space and it was _her_ who didn't pick up, but she just told him to shut up and stop making the break up harder than it already is. _And_ guess when she told him all this? While he was lying on a hospital bed, covered in bruises of various shades of yuck, feeling like crap already. Lovely woman.

His obsession with Loki had started before that though, before you assume that he was heart broken and went after the first person he saw, Tony was smitten with the god the moment that he saw the tight leather, gold horns and sexy staff back when he first saw the man in Stuttgart. He didn't think much of it after that, trying to make himself think that it was just a random thought, but when he felt butterflies in his stomach when he confronted the trickster before the massive battle he knew that it was something real. _I never did get the opportunity to give Loki that drink._

The god actually saved him from just drinking himself to death, although he'd never _ever_ tell him.

Loki was obviously still sleeping, his slow breathing and peaceful face gave it away, and it wasn't until Tony realised that he had been staring at the god since he woke up that he finally gave in to the truth: He was most definitely attracted to the god.

He didn't stop studying the perfect face in front of him until he saw emerald eyes slowly opening to connect with his own; Loki was finally awake and Tony thought that the soft expression in his eyes made him look even more beautiful.

~x~

The first thing he saw that morning was Stark looking across to him with those innocent brown eyes full of emotion, chasing away the usual sadness Loki experienced when he woke up and saw that he wasn't in his home in Asgard. The kitten seemed to like him more lately, which Loki felt as though he didn't deserve when he ran off without even feeding Stark yesterday. Oops.

He had finally bothered to look up what the human-Stark's full name was. Anthony Edward Stark, or Tony for short. He liked that name, it seemed to bring a smile to his face every time he attempted to say it perfectly and he heard how posh it still sounded in his voice. Loki wasn't going to rename his cat, even though he did prefer saying 'Tony' or 'Anthony', because it was far too late now and Stark seemed to like his name.

The kitten started wriggling again, trying to get Loki's attention again, so the trickster pulled him closer and nuzzled into the soft brown fur, making Stark start purring, the feeling was the single greatest thing he'd ever experienced. He hadn't ever been a cuddling person, only ever enjoying it when Frigga used to hug him when he was hurt, the feeling was unfamiliar because he hadn't been hugged by his mother since he was a little boy, but he liked it nevertheless. Stark seemed to like the contact too, his purring was filling the silence nicely.

Loki had never said anything more sincere when he whispered, "Thank you," to Stark but he felt as though he needed to thank the kitten for saving his life the night before, he couldn't begin to thank him enough. _Shame Tony Stark himself wouldn't feel the same about the god..._

~x~

He had no idea what Loki was on about when he said, "Thank you," but the sincerity in his voice made him feel as fuzzy on the inside as he was on the outside. _Shame he wouldn't feel the same if he knew about Stark's true identity..._

The comfortable silence was suddenly broken by a shrill ringtone and both the god and the cat jumped when they heard it. Loki didn't have a phone, and it was too close to be the neighbours. _What happened to my phone and clothes anyway?_ Cautiously, the trickster stepped out of bed, stopping to stroke Stark's head before tiptoeing into the hallway where the sound seemed to be coming from, Tony following closely behind.

There was a bright blue light just outside the living room door that seemed to be flickering slightly as the music carried on. It was on top of a small pile of clothes that the billionaire hadn't even noticed on his wanderings around the apartment, they were pushed right against the door though, so he probably wouldn't have seen them if he wasn't looking for them. On closer inspection, Tony realised that it was a StarkPhone and was unable to do anything more than stand there staring as Loki slowly picked up the phone and tapped the screen like it was about to explode. It was his phone. Damn.

The hallway was silent, neither of them seemed to be breathing, so Tony could hear Steve on the other end of the line perfectly. "Hello, Tony? Just wanted to make sure you're alright because nobody's seen you since Thursday morning. Tony? Tony, you there? Is this even working?"


	8. Surprise

**Chapter 8 – Surprise**

  
A soft click signalled that Steve had hung up and the hallway was eerily silent again. He was stuck between being afraid of an Avenger in his apartment, and being excited that it was the Iron Man. Tony was in his apartment. Tony Stark had found the one place he thought he was safe. He knew that there was some sort of magic detector somewhere in new York, but not once did he think it could have been the billionaire's; he was stupid for not realising that the man was very capable of building almost anything, he wasn't named a genius by the media for nothing.

He must of been here since yesterday, because the front door hadn't been opened since he slammed it after meeting Thor. The man could've killed him in his sleep. Did Tony even want him dead? Well, he'd done nothing to anger him as far as he could remember... Apart from throwing him out of a window. Okay, Tony had every reason to want him dead. Damn.

He was about to search the rooms when he saw Stark lurking silently behind him. The cat had been here since Thursday, there was a strangely perfect circle on it's chest, it acted a lot like Tony, and had large brown eyes that were too emotional to be a cats. He was crazy to assume that this adorable little kitty could be the Avenger, but it was worth a shot.

"Tony?" He asked the kitten that seemed to be frozen to the spot.

As if shocked by lightening, Stark ran off into the bedroom without looking at the trickster once, almost as if he's guilty. _That kitten definitely had something to hide._

But why was he a kitten? Last time he checked, Tony was a man, not a cat.

Loki looked back down at the phone in his hand and then past it to the little pile of clothing; he nudged the grey material at the top to see 'AC/DC' printed across the front of what he assumed was a shirt belonging to the billionaire – Loki wouldn't be seen dead in such attire, ever. The pieces were all fitting together now: Tony hadn't been seen since Thursday, Loki found the kitten later that day; he found the cat behind the living room door, the pile of clothes were tucked just behind the living room door; he was interrupted during a very difficult spell, Tony must've taken the full force of the magic.

The trickster glanced at the bedroom door that Stark had just run through, unsure whether to enter or not. He, the Aesir/Jotun god, was scared of a little kitten that was no taller than a child's stuffed toy. Tony would hate him now, no doubt about it. Loki had his reasons to hate the genius too, the man _was_ sneaking around his apartment and it was technically _his_ fault the spell mucked up, but he didn't feel any sort of anger or rage whatsoever.

What was the man even doing in his apartment anyway? Was he going to capture the god while he was at his weakest? Kill him? The possibilities were endless, and Loki didn't even want to think about them right now.

He awkwardly walked over to the doorframe and pushed the door open carefully with his elbow – it was only open a little bit, big enough for Stark to go through. The kitten was sitting alert on the bed, watching with curious eyes as Loki crossed the room and sat down next to the feline. The god took a deep breath, not knowing how to converse with a cat because, well, he'd never attempted to before, to be honest.

"Is that actually you, Tony Stark?" He decided it was the best way to start, considering he can't falsely accuse a random cat of being Tony Stark without knowing for sure; he also told himself to stick to 'yes' or 'no' questions because, if it was the billionaire, the cat couldn't speak as far as he knew.

Stark eyed him warily for a long moment before nodding his head, almost as if he was scared of the trickster.

Loki didn't know what he felt right then, too many emotions were surging through his body at once, but one though seemed to stand out from the rest: _Tony Stark was sitting within a foot of him._ It sounded like something pathetic a teenage girl would think, but he couldn't help the strange feeling that was going through his mind because Tony was nearby. _Did he have a..._ crush _on the billionaire?_

He didn't want to sound as pathetic as his mind when he asked the next question, but he felt as though he had to know the answer, "Are you mad with me?"

Tony – Stark? What did he call the cat now? - seemed a little taken back by the heartfelt question, but shook his head and moved closer to Loki so that his head was resting on the god's thigh.

Loki let out a breath that he didn't know he was holding in and reached down to place Stark on his lap, stroking the fluff that was incredibly soft, "I'm sorry Tony. I'm sorry you've been turned into a kitten and I'm sorry my magic isn't strong enough to turn you back yet but, I'm not sure if this is too much to ask, would you be able to put up with it for a little while longer?"

The kitten simply mewed in agreement while it nuzzled into Loki's hand; the trickster full of relief and pure joy, which was very rare for him.


	9. Realisation

 

**Chapter 9 – Realisation**

  
So, his cover had been blown and any dreams of being a successful secret agent shattered. Shame, he thought he'd be great as a spy; not as good as Nat or Clint, but still better than Fury. Well at least Loki seemed to be alright about all of this and seemed pleased that he was going to stay – he thanked each and every god up in sky-land for getting the reaction that he had hoped he'd get.

The cat was out of the bag. ( _A/N: I've wanted to say that for so long_ )

The billionaire snuggled further into the god's stroking along his back, he couldn't seem to get enough of it, and secretly wished that Loki would never get his magic back because he really like this treatment compared to his normal life back at the tower.

"I may have to buy you some cat stuff today seeing as though you're going to be staying here for a while longer and, well, I can't expect you to sleep on the couch."

 _"I'd much rather sleep in your bed..."_ "Meow." He knew that he couldn't speak, yet he still felt that he should reply with more than just a slight nod or shake of the head.

The trickster gently placed him back on the bed and reached under the wooden frame to retrieve a little wooden box that was just plain and simple – nothing magical or special which was disappointing for something kept under a sorcerer's bed like a secret. He opened the lid and tipped it upside down over his lap, a couple of coins and a five dollar note falling pitifully out. _How did the guy expect to buy anything with that?_

Tony jumped off of the bed and out of the room at the speed of light, or near enough to it anyway, over to the pile of his clothes that were still the same as they were about ten minutes ago, crumpled in a little pile with his phone on top. He heard Loki walk out of the bedroom door as he rummaged through the jeans. _Now, if I remember right... Bingo!_ As quick as he left the room seconds ago, he turned around and climbed up the god's leg like a spider with his credit card between his teeth.

"You'd trust me with _this_? You're a billionaire, I could buy anything..." Hesitantly, Loki took the plastic card from the kitten and turned it over in his hands, inspecting it before looking down to Tony with wide eyes – who had climbed up to the trickster's shoulder like a pirate's parrot. He nodded quickly and nudged Loki with his paw; if he was a human then he would be pushing the god out of the door to give him the encouragement that he needed.

"I... Thank you," Loki breathed out with a huge smile on his face, being poor for so long must have been hard on the ex-prince, and squeezed Stark in a hug before placing him on the ground and almost skipping to the door.

A very faint whoosing sound and a green glow came from the other end of the hallway as Loki undid the lock using magic.

"I'll be back as soon as I can. Thank you yet again for trusting me with your money, I promise I won't give you a reason to doubt me. Please still be here when I get back." The last sentence was almost unheard as it was said almost as a whisper, like a silent wish.

He didn't realise there were butterflies in his stomach until he heard the door close gently on the latch.

~x~

"Tony you bastard, let me in!" Clint's knuckles hurt from bashing on the door to Tony's apartment in the tower for about ten minutes.

After a lot of persuading from Steve, he had finally given in and gone to see how Stark was doing since he last met him on Thursday morning; the guy was coping alright then so the archer didn't see why he would be any different now. The super-soldier had tried ringing Tony but he didn't get any answer, assumed that he was just working his phone wrong, and sent Clint to New York instead of getting off his lazy ass himself. Apparently he's "too busy with tracking Loki". He can help search for a wanted criminal but can't work out how to use a phone properly. _He owes me big time; I'm a busy man too!_

"Master Stark isn't home right now." The local AI's voice rang through the hallway, sounding like an irritated butler.

"Jarvis, where is he?"

"He hasn't been home since Thursday evening, Agent Barton." _Why did Jarvis always sound so calm?_ Surely Tony would have programmed him with at least some emotions...

"Has he run away to his Malibu house then? I'll kill the prick if I have to go all the way over there."

"Master Stark isn't at his other residence."

"Track his phone then..." Clint sighed in annoyance because the whole ordeal was taking far too long; he only wanted to say hi and leave quickly so he could be home before the decent TV shows came on.

"His phone can't be tracked, it seems to have disappeared along with him." There was a slight hint of worry in the AI's voice, unnerving the archer. Well, at least he knew that Stark _did_ at least give his robo-butler emotions.

"Jarvis, put me through to Steve." Clint replied in a stern buisness-like tone that made him feel super cool and like a proper agent that he'd seen in the movies. This wasn't part of the plan, it all sounded as though Tony had been kidnapped or assassinated, and that wasn't good at all.

"Clint? What's Tony's excuse for being unsociable this time?" The soldier answered almost immediately, as though he was waiting for the archer's report on their team-mate.

"He's gone missing. As in, not even his phone can be tracked."

There was a long pause as Steve thought about what Clint had just said, almost as if he was in disbelief or shock, and then replied in a strangely forced-calm tone, "We need to stop searching for Loki and start looking for Stark, he's our main priority right now. Assemble the Avengers."


	10. Magic

**Chapter 10 – Magic**

When he was a prince in Asgard, Loki never had to go shopping because everything was brought for him by servants to the royal family. If he wanted food, it was brought to him in masses until he was happy; if he needed clothes, some would be made for him immediately; if he needed someone other that Thor to prank, he'd set up a trap for the next person to walk through the door and ask if he wants something. That's what he liked the most about Asgard, the endless attendants ready and waiting to provide the royal family with _anything_.

It wasn't like he hadn't been shopping on Midgard before, he had to get his food somehow, but the god still wasn't very good at choosing what food to buy. In Asgard there was four types of food: meat, fruit, bread and vegetables – all accompanied with enough alcohol to keep a warrior happy. But on Earth there was so many types of substance available, and almost all of it contained far too much sugar. _Why do mortals seem to be addicted to sugar?_

He stuck to buying basic groceries along with some cat stuff – food that Tony could eat while cat size, a water bowl, and a litter tray. The god didn't think that Tony would approve of being made to use a littler tray though and wasn't looking forward to his reaction, but he _was_ a cat and didn't have much of an option.

After an hour wandering around a supermarket and with carrier bags weighing down his arms, Loki spent the walk back wondering how humans managed to cope with shopping without dying of boredom or of being made to walk home with a ton of shopping.

~x~

When Loki opened the door to his apartment with a nudge from his hip, his hands were occupied with carrying the shopping bags, he thought for a second that it had been snowing in the hallway. There was white powder covering a long trail of the carpet between the kitchen and living room doors that was about a foot wide. 

The trickster walked into the kitchen and dropped the carrier bags before inspecting the powder trail; the origin was pretty obvious when he saw a bag of flour lying on the floor next to the sink that had been ripped open and was spilling the powder everywhere. He shook his head in annoyance before following the trail through the corridor and into the living room, where there was even more flour than in the kitchen.

Stark was sitting meekly by the sofa and Loki would have been curious at the sheepishness if it wasn't for the fact that the kitten was completely covered in flour. The billionaire was looking at Loki with wide brown eyes that stood out greatly from the white powder stuck to his fur – if he didn't know better then he would have assumed that Tony was a white cat. The trickster was about to pretend that he was annoyed, just to see what Tony's reaction would be, but before he could even open his mouth the kitten sneezed. A cloud of flour rose around the billionaire and made him sneeze again.

"Aww," Loki said without thinking, making Tony look back up to him with giant brown eyes filled with curiosity and embarrassment. The god was embarrassed too and could feel a blush burning at his cheeks; it wasn't until after he had awwed at Tony when his brain caught up and reminded him that the kitten was a man who probably wouldn't approve of being seen as cute.

The awkward silence would have been broken immediately by Tony if he wasn't a cat so it was up to Loki to say something.

"I see you attempted some cooking."

The cat glared weakly at him, muttering something that was probably a witty remark but all Loki could hear was strangled meows. It took a while for Tony to realise that he wasn't actually speaking and abruptly shut up, glaring at the trickster more intensely even though he could see that there was no actual bitterness in Stark's eyes. The glare didn't work as well as Tony wanted; there was nothing scary about a flour-covered kitten.

Tony didn't notice that Loki had sat down next to him until he felt a hand run down his back, instantly shutting up his little rant. Chuckling slightly to himself, the god inspected the trail of flour leading to the kitten and the patch under where Stark was sitting. _How could one cat make so much mess?_

"You definitely know how to make a mess."

When Tony tried to talk back, all Loki could hear was the same choked sounds which was really starting to irritate him – he wanted to hear what Tony was attempting to say for once. The trickster focused on Stark, who was still talking, and summoned any magic he could grasp in order to attempt a spell he'd never tried before.

The almost sarcastic sounding meows coming from the kitten slowly morphed into words that were definitely in Tony's voice, _"...god thinking he can just sit there and stare at me like he can read my mind. Well, two can play at this game. I'll just glare at him until he gets intimidated."_

Stark's eyes narrowed in concentration which confirmed that Loki had performed the spell right; he could now hear what Tony is attempting to say instead of just the meows. He laughed in triumph, which startled the kitten out of it's glare, and smirked back at Tony.

"Glaring at me won't intimidate me, Stark."

The taken-back expression remained on Stark's face as the trickster laughed again and continued, "And, before you ask, I can now hear what you're attempting to say so I won't have to put up with them damn cat noises emitting from your mouth instead."

 _"You're kidding, right?"_ Loki could no longer hear the meows any more, only the billionaire's voice loud and clear in his mind – as if the cat was actually talking. A talking cat would be weird to the god, but he had encountered weirder on his travels around Asgard. Ever seen a purple dragon that causes earthquakes by singing opera? Loki has.

"I'm not kidding at all. I can't turn you back into a human yet, but this is an improvement I think."

_"Could anyone else hear what I'm saying then?"_

"Nope. They'd only hear a cat sounding like it's being strangled."

_"I really sound like that?"_

"Yes, that's why I cast the spell allowing me to hear your speech."

_"You'd look like a right weirdo talking to a cat that seems to be talking back in cat language."_

"I don't intend for anyone else to encounter me talking to an animal." Stark seemed to be taking the situation well, which intrigued Loki because not many people could be turned into a magical talking cat and still converse normally like it was an everyday occurrence.

_"_ _Can I use your shower? I kinda got flour... everywhere. I can't cook. Sorry."_

"It's alright, I've brought you some cat-friendly food so you wont have to attempt cooking again," the god said with a soft smile, just happy that Tony still didn't look as though he was going to escape any time soon, "The shower is in the little room next to my bedroom. Do you need help? I'm okay with delaying sorting out the shopping." Loki almost shocked himself with his willingness to drop everything in order to help someone other than himself.

 _"No no, I can manage myself."_ Tony replied as he strutted out of the door, leaving Loki sat next to just a large patch of flour that he sighed at; gods of mischief do not specialise in cleaning up flour, that's what servants would be asked to do.

He shifted slightly so that he was squatting, when he heard Tony whine from the bathroom – the voice in his mind making the billionaire seem closer than he actually was, _"Lokiiiiiiiii. Can you give me a hand please? I'm too short to use the shower."_


	11. Helping

**Chapter 11 – Helping**

_"Stay out, I'm naked!"_

"Stark, you're always running around in the nude, in case you haven't already realised..."

" _I feel uncomfortable with someone else being in the shower while I am."_

 "How do you expect to turn on the water then?"

  _"... Fine. Come on in then."_

 Loki let out an exasperated sigh, he had been standing outside the bathroom door for some time waiting for the billionaire to let go of his pride and admit that he needed help. He opened the door with ease – he forgot that Tony wasn't tall enough to lock it, hence why he was having to help the guy with turning on the water – to see the kitten sitting frustratedly glaring at the shower head by the ceiling.

 Most of the flour had fallen off while Tony was walking to the bathroom, so there was now some brown patches visible along the billionaire's back; he was still staring at the shower head like it was his mortal enemy when Loki moved closer and brushed some more flour off of his tail, making the brown fur visible there too.

 As he went to stand up again, the trickster bashed his head on the tap that controls the water on the wall and rubbed his head instinctively even though it didn't really hurt him, grumbling a bit at how he forgot that the tap was there. He heard Tony giggle at his complaining and couldn't help but smile at how he'd cheered up the grumpy kitten. The hand on his head moved to grasp at the wall blindly until he found the tap, not taking is eyes off of Stark. _This would be kind of weird if he wasn't a cat..._

 The water quickly turned on and Loki stepped back out of the way just in time so that none of it hit him; Tony jumped at the sudden gush of water and tried to run into a corner out of the way, although it didn't work as well as he would have liked.

 “ _Ah! That's boiling, I feel like I'm on fire!”_

 It was the god's turn to laugh now as he turned the tap to the left, to a more comfortable temperature, and watched Tony wander back under the full flow of the water before quickly flicking his wrist, making the water the coldest it will go.

 “ _Loki! Stop that already!”_

 The trickster was now laughing manically at how Stark ran around in circles to find a corner to avoid the freezing water, no longer able to see through tears of laughter, and could hardly breathe by the time he finally had mercy on Tony and turned the water temperature back up again. He eventually calmed down after a few minutes and looked down to see the kitten looking up at him with an irritated expression.

 “Sorry.”

 “ _Why did you do that?”_

 “Trickster god.”

 “ _Fair enough. Just don't do it again or I'll claw you to death with my tiny kitty claws.”_

 Loki sighed in defeat – he didn't want to annoy Tony when the billionaire could easily just leave him before being turned back into a human – and threw a bar of soap from by the sink down to the kitten, realising that a bar of soap wouldn't be very good for cleaning a kitten but it was the best thing he had other than washing up liquid.

 “I doubt you'll need much help with cleaning yourself, so I'll leave you to it while I start tidying up your mess in the kitchen.”

 “ _Thanks Lokes! And I would say that I'm sorry about the mess but I'm not after your little water incident,”_ Tony replied with a smug tone, rugby tackling the soap in an effort to get clean, as the god stepped out of the bathroom and inspected the trail of flour through his bedroom. Trying his hardest not to step in the white powder so that he wouldn't make more mess himself, Loki walked into the kitchen and was faced with the decision of what he should do first: unpack the shopping or clean up the flour. He decided that cleaning the mess would be more effective because Tony would only step in it again and end up spreading the powder even further around the apartment, bringing him back to step one.

 He got a dustpan and brush from under the sink that hadn't been used before and began to sweep up the offending mess. Yes, he could have used magic but with using quite a bit to allow him to hear what Tony is saying, he wasn't going to attempt any more spells for a while – he would probably end up ripping up the floor along with the flour, creating more mess than before.

 Sweeping up the kitchen and hallway took the god a lot longer than it would take anyone else; he wasn't very good at doing housework because when he was in Asgard he either used magic to clean or made a servant to do it. As he was about to head into the living room, he saw Tony's clothes still in a crumpled pile out of the way. Loki picked up the shirt and jeans, careful to not get any flour over it, and folded them delicately into a little square that he was pretty proud of. Under them was two casual shoes that were definitely very expensive and looked like they cost more than the average person made in a year – obviously shoes that belonged to Tony Stark. Loki picked them up too and headed to put them in his room; there was no closet in there considering the god could just magic clothes out of nothing so he placed them on top of some papers on his desk.

 He peeked around the bathroom door to see how Tony was getting along with washing himself as a cat. Stark seemed to be enjoying himself as he was currently covered in soap bubbles and sliding around the shower like an ice skater, leaving a bubbly trail behind him. Covering his mouth with his sleeve to muffle his laughter, the trickster left the kitten to enjoy his shower while he headed back to the living room to continue cleaning up.

 The flour was remarkably easy to sweep up off of the living room carpet compared to the other rooms, so it wasn't long until Loki had cleaned up the majority of the powder and was up to the last little patch remaining by the sofa.

 “ _Hey. Hey, Loki. Guess what?”_

 The silence was broken by an enthusiastic Tony and Loki couldn't help the grin on his face when he sighed in reply, “Have you finished washing yet, Stark?”

 “ _You obviously didn't hear what I said. Guess what?”_

 “Fine. What?”

 “ _I'm...”_ Tony paused for a second to hold in a giggle – there was definitely mischief in his voice, Loki knew mischief better than anyone else – before he ran into the living room, water flying off of his soaked fur, “... _Stark naked! Get it?”_

 The god followed Stark running around with his eyes, wanting to laugh but not wanting to give Tony credit for such a bad pun, as he cleared up the last of the flour from the carpet. Tony was still running around in a mad attempt to dry himself and bounded over to Loki when he finally stood up, fur still damp and dripping in places, _“Not even a smile? That was the best pun I've done all month!”_

 The Cheshire-cat smile on Stark's face faded slightly when the god just walked past him to the kitchen and emptied the dustpan into a little bin that was already pretty full with flour; he was nearly worried that he'd hurt the trickster's feelings until Loki turned around with a grin on his face that could challenge Tony's.

 “That was bad and you know it.”

_"But I can see you enjoyed it.”_

 “You're clearing up the flour in my bedroom for a pun that bad.” The god was only being sarcastic and didn't expect Tony to saunter out into the hallway, turning in the direction of Loki's room.

 Loki followed curiously behind, bursting into fits of laughter when he saw Stark starting to lick the powder dusting his bedroom carpet in an attempt to clean.

 “ _Your carpet tastes horrid.”_

 “It's not meant to be tasted.” The trickster had walked over to where Tony was now pretending he was being sick, still laughing at how idiotic the 'genius' man was.

 “ _Eurgh, I've got carpet fluff on my tongue!”_

 Loki was now gasping for air through his giggles and managed to breathe out, “Your... fault,” before laughing even harder at the kitten who was now rolling around on the floor making gagging sounds.

 “ _Get it off! There's carpet fluff on my tongue and it tastes horrid!”_

 “Don't... lick the... carpet then.”

 “ _My mouth is fluffy, help!”_ Stark weakly shuffled over to where the god was standing, groaning like a zombie, and started to lick the bottom of Loki's trousers.

 Loki instantly stopped laughing when he felt the tugging on his trousers, surprised at the kitten's actions.

 “Why are you attempting to eat my clothing?”

 “ _It tastes better than the carpet.”_ Stark's voice was muffled by the fabric but the mischief was clearly heard.

 “Stop it.”

 “ _Why?”_

 “I'm... ticklish.” The god admitted reluctantly and heard a less muffled giggle from the kitten as the tugging stopped, only to be replaced with a fuzzy face nuzzling into his ankle instead, “What are you doing, Stark?”

 “ _Tickling you.”_

 Even though he tried to hold in his laughter, Loki ended up laughing even harder than before at the sensation of the fur tickling his ankle. Tony Stark was one cruel man to use his weakness against him.


	12. Domestic

**Chapter 12 – Domestic**

It took a while but eventually Tony had given Loki a break from laughing, in fear that he couldn't breathe. He was _not_ going to be responsible for a god's death.

 As the god started to clean the carpet properly – turns out that licking a carpet isn't highly effective – Stark thought that it would be weird just sitting there staring at Loki's ass, so he sauntered through the hallway until the sight of many shopping bags caught his eye. He sprinted to the bags in hope of something high in calories and overall delicious. _Food, food, food, food, food..._

 Peeking into the nearest bag, all Tony could see was healthy food; carrots, apples, potatoes etc. - not one sugary snack in sight. _Where's the crisps and chocolate and biscuits and_ alcohol _?_

 “ _What do you call all of this?!”_

 “That is food. The stuff people eat.” The god said from next to the bin as he tipped away the flour in the dustpan, “Don't go eating all of it at once.”

 “ _How do you expect me to eat any of_ that _?”_ Tony exclaimed loudly, half in shock at the god's sudden appearance and half in disgust, pouting at a carrot.

 “It's nutritious,” the I-want-you-dead look that Loki received from saying that made him come to the conclusion that Tony did _not_ like vegetables, “If you don't like it then you will go hungry, simple.”

 “ _You can't starve me.”_

 The trickster was about to reply, to remind Stark that he couldn't just eat sugar all the time because he'd end up fat when he was turned back into a human, when he was cut off by the kitten whining and giving him puppy-dog eyes. Tony Stark was actually whining, that was something he'd never let him live down. He stood there emotionless with an eyebrow raised at the billionaire's efforts, not affected one bit – Thor used to look like a kicked puppy whenever he was trying to persuade Loki to do something, so after many _many_ years of living with the thunder-god, he was now immune to it completely.

 “ _Lokiiii, I want normal people food please?”_

 “No.”

 “ _Pretty please?”_ Stark's voice was getting an octave higher with every whine, making him sound like a whiny little kid; Loki _hated_ children.

 “No. I went out to get food for you, taking time out of _my_ day, so you _will_ eat it and that's that.”

 “ _It was my money.”_

 “I don't want to go back to the store.” The god really didn't want to go back to the store. It was too loud and too busy and too confusing; he didn't like how many types of food were available and how most of it tasted rubbish to him, he was used to either big Asgardian meals or prison rations.

 “ _Take me with you then.”_ The kitten's face lit up at what he had suggested and he bounded over to Loki within seconds, not without glaring at the carrot one last time as if to make the inanimate object realise that it wasn't wanted.

 Sighing down at Tony – he seemed to be sighing a lot more ever since he decided to look after the genius, billionaire, philanthropist – Loki kept up his emotionless façade as he contemplated the perks of taking the kitten with him: Tony knew what all of the food was and would be able to tell him what tasted good as well as what shouldn't be touched with a ten foot pole, but he would draw attention to the trickster with his non-stop chattering that nobody else could understand. It wasn't worth the risk.

 “ _Pretty please with a cherry on top?”_ Stark was very persistent when he wanted something and Loki was very stubborn when he wanted something so it was practically a stand-off until one of them eventually gave up.

 The god shook his head at Tony's begging and sighed a reply as though it was obvious to even an idiot, “You would attempt to talk at one point or another and it doesn't sound pleasant at all. Actually, someone would probably assume that you're being possessed...”

 “ _I won't speak, I promise.”_

 “No.”

 “ _I'll cry if you don't take me.”_

 “No!” Loki grabbed a random bag and started putting groceries into the cupboards in an attempt to ignore the damned kitten by his feet.

 “ _But Lokiiiiii...”_

 “I am _not_ taking you and I never will so please, before I lose what little sanity I have left right now, stop asking!”

 ~x~

 “ _Could you stop walking so fast? I feel sick...”_

 “Don't talk!”

 “ _Sorry, I forgot...”_

 Loki was starting to get odd looks from random people as he whispered to his bag that sounded like it was dying from strangulation. He just glared at anyone who dared look is way and continued his fast around the supermarket, trying to just get the trip over and done with.

 Surprisingly, the trickster wasn't in a bad mood after having to go shopping, help a cat shower, clean up flour, being begged to go shopping again, and now walking around a supermarket for the second that day with a kitten in the messenger bag by his hip. And he still hadn't actually had anything to eat thanks to Stark not giving him a second to spare.

 So far the basket in his hand had two packets of cookies, a bar of chocolate, cheesy crisps and some sugary cereal in it. He didn't know how Tony still had such a good body on a diet of junk food but he wasn't going to complain about his food preferences when the billionaire would just sulk again about how vegetables were his mortal enemies.

 “ _I want scotch.”_ Tony whispered as he poked his head up from the bag, _“Or any other alcohol will do.”_

 “You're not having any alcohol whatsoever.” The god whispered back, shaking his hips so that the kitten lost his footing and disappeared back into the bag with a muffled protest.

 “ _What about coffee then?”_ Tony's voice sounded from the bag after a moment of silence, Loki assumed he was pouting or something else childish.

 “You're only having water, you are a cat.”

 “ _Oh really? I would have never of noticed.”_

 “Shut up, there's people around.” He hissed back when he heard somebody approaching the shelf and pretended that he was interested in the products there so he didn't seem weird – staring at a shelf full of yoghurt, fascinating...

 A middle-aged woman that worked in the store appeared from behind the shelf Loki was looking at, wearing an orange shirt that shows she works there, a long floral skirt and a beige handbag, “Can I help you, sir?”

 “No thank you, I'm just browsing.”

 The trickster was about to turn around and continue his shopping when the woman grabbed the top of his arm, making him look around awkwardly to avoid the woman's gaze.

 “I recognise you from somewhere... Are you off of that TV show? You know, that one that was on last night? Oooh I can't remember the name of it now...”

 “I'm sorry, you must have mistaken me for somebody else.” The trickster managed to get his arm loose from the woman's incredibly firm grasp and was now backing away as quick as he could without looking too suspicious. If this woman realised that he was Loki, the god who tried to take over the world and killed many people in the process, then he would be forced to move far away before the word spread around the city; the Avengers would be after him, people would try to kill him in the streets, he would have to abandon Tony.

 “No, no, I do know you from somewhere. Just let me get my glasses... Now, where did I put them?” She started fumbling around with her handbag in search for her glasses and Loki started to panic. Nobody had seen him up close yet so nobody could definitely tell who he was, but now this woman would recognise him immediately. Was it too suspicious to just run away now? No, he had to get more shopping so she'd find him in the aisles soon anyway. He also had shopping on him that he hadn't paid for yet, items he couldn't just run away with – he wasn't going to risk stealing stuff when he had Tony with him.

 As if reading his mind, the kitten jumped out of the bag and ran over to the woman, tugging on the bottom of her skirt to get her attention. Loki didn't know what to do; did he run off now and leave Tony to torment the woman or did he stay and watch what was happening? He didn't get time to even move when the woman screamed so loud that he was sure that it could be heard on the other side of New York, heck, possibly even in Asgard.

 “There's a cat! Get it away! Help!” She was hyperventilating and attempting to back away from Tony still attached to her skirt, yelling at the top of her voice.

 A man who worked there ran into the aisle and it was then that the god finally remembered how to move, grabbing the kitten and sprinting in the opposite direction. He shoved Stark ungracefully back into the messenger bag as he kept on running, trying to lose the worker in the crowd.

 “What did you do that for?” Loki hissed to Tony while turning a sharp corner and narrowly missing running into a random person's trolley.

 " _She would have known who you are if she had found her glasses.”_

 “Thanks?” He hurriedly replied as he followed the signs pointing to where the cashiers were, “Your recklessness has now got me running away from the workers here. I was trying to go _unnoticed.”_

 “ _What ya gonna do now?”_ The billionaire was obviously enjoying this far more than he should have been and, if he was honest, Loki actually enjoyed the adrenaline rush too.”

 “I think I've lost him.” He panted as he slowed down to a walk, the checkouts in sight, glancing cautiously over his shoulder, “I'm paying for this and then we're going home.”

 “ _What about my scotch?”_

 “No!”

 ~x~

 Loki had a weird sense of deja vu as he was unpacking the shopping for the second time that time. It wasn't until he heard Stark munching on a biscuit that he realised that he had seen so much food that day and hadn't actually eaten a bite for about a day. Grabbing an apple from a bag in the cupboard, the god turned around to watch the kitten battling two cookies to decide which to eat first, realising just how domestic the billionaire and himself had become over the past few days.

  _“Why do you act differently around me?”_ Tony saw that he had surprised the trickster with his random question, the god's body freezing all over until he eventually looked the kitten in the eye.

 “What?”

  _“You get annoyed and act all cold with other people but with me you're all soft and squishy.”_

 “I'm not soft and squishy.” Loki was avoiding having to answer the question and the billionaire wouldn't let him get away without answering what had been bugging him all week; there was a very significant difference between the god's attitude towards the public and himself.

  _“Answer the question.”_

 “Why did you make a tracking device in order to find me if you had no intention to bring me to justice?”

 _“You still haven't answered my question; why am I the only one who gets to see happy Loki when I'm no different to other people?”_ He felt bad for practically forcing an answer out of Loki, but it was now or never.

 “They annoy me.”

  _“I annoy you.”_

 “They're just pathetic mortals who don't deserve my time or patience.”

_“Why am I any different then?”_

 The trickster didn't know how to reply. He knew that he liked Stark more than anyone else on Midgard but he wasn't sure how to word it and he definitely wasn't going to admit it to the billionaire. _Why was this particular man any different?_

 “Because you're the unfortunate person who ended up being affected by my magic. If it was anyone else then I would act the same to them.” He did what he was known for, lying. It was the easy way out; the coward's way out.

 “ _No other feelings there then?”_

 “None at all.” _Lies._


	13. Hurt

**Chapter 13 – Hurt**

 The god admitting that he felt nothing towards him made his heart feel as though it had been ripped from his chest – his real heart, although having the arc reactor pulled out hurt a lot too. The billionaire had lost all ability to make a witty remark and was only capable of dragging himself into the living room.

 He was stupid for thinking that Loki had changed. He was an idiot for thinking that trickster cared. He didn't deserve to be an Avenger if he let the number #1 top enemy affect him like it did. It didn't matter if it was Steve who was currently a cat, Loki would treat the soldier exactly the same way as himself.

 Tony was now seriously considering just going back to his home and using his kind of basic knowledge of magic to transform himself back into his human form so he could drink away the horrid feeling in his stomach. He didn't even feel this bad when Pepper dumped him, although that was probably because he had Loki to keep his thoughts occupied. _Perhaps he should develop an obsession with another villain to keep him sane..._ But, even with the feelings of betrayal, hurt and sadness mixing up inside of him, part of him still hoped that he would be the soft, squishy man he'd grown fond of recently.

 He had never been properly heartbroken before but this was what he assumed it felt like. He was heartbroken over a guy who he wasn't in a relationship with in the first place...

 His internal rant was interrupted by the god joining him in the living room and sitting on the couch about two feet away from where he was pouting on the floor. The room was silent and it dragged on for what seemed like forever, getting more and more awkward by the second. Tony wanted to say something but knew that once he started talking then he wouldn't be able to contain all of his anger towards Loki.

 He had to ask what was on his mind; this was a big red button just waiting to be pushed by any idiot willing to risk it, _"No other feelings, eh?"_

 Loki looked taken aback by the sudden question and fumbled for words before replying with a meek, "What I meant was-"

  _"You're no different at all! I thought you had changed but, no, you're just the same asshole Loki you've always been! You are incapable of thinking about anyone other than yourself, not even your own cat!"_ Anthony Edward Stark wasn't known for his patience, no, he was know for blowing things up.

 "Why does it matter so much to you?"

  _"Because_ I _care about some bastard who is just waiting for an opportunity to throw me out!"_

 "You... care about... _me_?" If it wasn't for the anger bubbling inside of him, Tony would have noticed how the god stumbled in his speech, how he had an expression on his face that had never been seen before and how it was a perfect opportunity to just kiss and make up – well, no kissing unfortunately but it was a good time to forget it before the whole situation got for too out of hand. He knew how Bruce felt now when he was the Hulk, with uncontrollable rage that just needed to be let loose and there was nothing he could do to stop it. All he could compute in his mind was how to insult and make people hate him, he wanted to make Loki pay for leading him on and then practically breaking his heart with his heartlessness.

  _"Oh well done, genius. And, you know what? I'm an idiot for even thinking that you were alright in the first place because you're nothing but a heartless liar who deserves to be alone."_

 "I don't always lie..."

  _"No, you don't. You obviously weren't lying when you said you had no other feelings."_

 "But, Stark, you don't understand!" Loki sounded worried and it almost made the billionaire see sense again. Almost.

  _"Oh I understand perfectly now. If you didn't want me around then you should have just said at the start."_

 "Fine, leave then! Don't come crying back to me when nobody believes you're Tony Stark!"

~x~ 

Loki stormed off to his bedroom and cut off the spell allowing him to hear what Tony's saying, he didn't want to hear him any more. He sat on his bed and sulked like a child for what must have been an hour. Lying always had bad consequences, he had discovered that before, but if he had of known that one little sentence would make the billionaire hate him then he would never of said a thing. He would have told the truth instead of listening to his instinct.

 Tony cared. _Tony cared._ Tony had been brave enough to admit that he cared when he wasn't. This is what separated the heroes from the villains: the ability to be brave and tell the truth, even when it was uncomfortable and you could just lie easily instead. They were too different and now Stark hated him, it would never work between them now.

 It had been too long since he had stormed off and the sulking in his room didn't help the guilt that made him feel sick. Cautiously, the god opened the door and shuffled towards the living room, eyes focused on the faint spots of flour on the carpet that he couldn't get earlier. Only earlier that day he was laughing with the mischievous kitten and now he had taken their friendship way back to step -1. He tried to think of an apology but they all sounded far too sappy for a god like him – he'd just have to improvise.

 The living room was silent and Stark wasn't in sight thankfully, Loki didn't want to look the billionaire in the eye while he was giving a heartfelt apology. He took a deep breath before he began to speak,“Star- Tony, I... didn't exactly mean anything I said earlier...” The living room was still silent, only the trickster's own breath was the only sound, “Tony?”

 He looked around the sofa in a hurry and then checked it again when he didn't find the kitten, in hope that he'd just overlooked the little ball of brown fluff with a white circle on his chest and big brown eyes. Stark wasn't anywhere in sight and Loki then started to panic; the last thing he had said to the billionaire was to leave and not return.

 The hallway was empty too, along with the kitchen, and it wasn't until he had checked the entire apartment about three times that he let go of the little bit of hope inside of him that said that the kitten could just be hiding.

 The billionaire had run away.


	14. Worry

**Chapter 14 – Worry**  

Loki had ran out of the apartment the moment he realised that Tony wasn't there, in hope that he'd be able to catch up with the kitten, but he was too late; he'd obviously spent too long sulking in his room and the billionaire could be anywhere in the city by now. By the time he bothered to look up, the sun was setting and casting an orangey-pink glow across the tops of the New York skyscrapers. 

The nearest building was Stark Towers, its unique shape making it stand out amongst the other average skyscrapers. It looked as outrageous as some of the architecture in Asgard – and them buildings were all made of solid gold and on a floating rock that had a rainbow bridge coming off of it, correction, _did_ have a rainbow bridge until Thor destroyed it along with Loki's dreams. _The bridge was destroyed with my dreams... I should be a poet._

He carried on walking down the road, with his head down to draw any attention away from his face, and checked the spell that he had cast to allow him to hear what Tony was saying. There hadn't been anything said by the billionaire since he had replaced the spell when he left his apartment; either Tony hadn't said a thing or he was too far away to be heard. The latter seemed like the most sensible answer because Stark never seemed to shut up, ever.

Hours later, it was well into the night when the god slumped down on a bench in the park and buried his head in his hands. There wasn't anybody in sight for miles, the headlights of cars visible on the far side of the park where there was a main road, and it wasn't helping the loneliness that Loki felt one bit. There had been no sight of the little brown kitten for hours, although he did think he had seen Tony down an alley way but when he looked again, there was just two fully-grown stray cats in the darkness.

The guilt was definitely worse than it was earlier when he was sulking in his bedroom, he thought he was going to be sick and even had to stop his search earlier so that he could lean against a wall because he felt dizzy. Never had he felt so bad for upsetting someone before. _Never_ had he felt any remorse for lying. He vowed that when – if – he saw the billionaire again, he would tell him the truth right away and apologise until Stark saw how much he meant to the god. _Since when was he willing to apologise?_

His stomach churned even more when he wondered what had happened to the little kitten in what the mortals called the 'Big Apple'. Normally he liked apples but he was starting to dislike this one – well, at least they weren't lying when they say 'big' although 'huge' would have been a more apt decision. What if he had been kidnapped? Or what if he was lost?

What if he had been hit by a speeding taxi?

_What if Tony had been killed?_

What if he had been taken back by the Avengers?

What if he was human again already?

What if he was trying to get back with that ginger woman with the weird name?

_Why did that bother him so much?_

_When did he get distracted from the task of searching?_ Oh yeah, he still had to find the kitten.

~x~

He felt useless and even more guilty when he returned to his apartment during the early hours of the morning alone – the sun would be out within the next hour, he assumed – and wasn't concentrating fully while he unlocked the door with a green flash of magic; his mind was still racing with all of the possibly situations Tony could be in and why he hadn't found the kitten after hours of searching. As Loki pushed open the door to his empty apartment, he heard the scratch of nails along the floor along with a ruffle of fur down by his feet, and the breath caught in his throat when he looked down to see what had interrupted his thoughts.

There was a little brown kitten glaring up at him, the same worry he felt written in the large brown eyes.

The emotions in Tony's eyes were quickly covered up by a mask of indifference as he quickly looked away, glaring at the wall opposite with such intensity that Loki was scared that it would melt. Stark was pissed off.

_"I'm not here for you."_

The trickster felt relief flooding through his body in a tidal wave of emotion when he realised that Stark had no malice or anger in his voice, a hint of worry laced through the attempt to be emotionless. He didn't know what to do; did he hug the kitten and tell him that he's so glad to see him again? Did he get angry and yell at Tony for being stupid? Or did he correct the mistake that got them both into this mess and stick the vow he made to himself earlier?

"Tony, I am really sorry that I lied to you earlier. I only said I have no other feelings because I... was scared of what your reaction would be. I do care for you too, why else would I still be putting up with you? The thing I'm trying to say is... Don't ever run off again, I was worried that something bad would happen to you considering you're only a kitten in a far too busy city! And don't ever make me say this mushy stuff again or I _will_ give you to an animal shelter on the other side of the world."

_"Sorry, I didn't hear any of that. I was too busy counting the bricks in that wall over there."_

Anger started to bubble inside of him. _He'd just poured his heart out and the bastard wasn't even listening!_ "You ignorant, narcissistic-"

_"I'm only kidding, jeez. And because we're admitting stuff right now; I didn't run away fully. I just sat outside the door and waited to see if you'd throw a party; when you went to search for me, I followed you until I got bored and came back here.”_

"I thought you were mad with me."

 _"I was until I stormed out, realised I couldn't do anything and then realised I was a jerk for not listening to you... Sorry."_ The way the kitten bowed his head in shame tugged at the god's heartstrings.

"I looked around the  _entire_ city for you!"

_"Consider that payback."_

"Payback? Right, you're staying out here for the night then." He made sure that the joking tone was clear in his voice as he stepped into the doorway and started to shut the door behind him, not really planning to lock out Tony but just to see what the billionaire's reaction would be.

_"I'm ever so sorry, oh almighty god, for the troublesome times I caused but, if you would be so kind, I would like the honour of sleeping with you rather than out here, please?"_

He glanced back out at the kitten giving him puppy-dog eyes and let out an over dramatic sigh, "Fine. Come on in then."

Stark immediately jumped up and sauntered into the apartment before Loki could change his mind, _"This has been the most eventful day of my life, I think..."_


	15. Truth

**Chapter 15 – Truth**

Tony wasn't sure whether to be thankful or not that he was a kitten; he was small so people didn't notice him but, well, he was a bloody kitten. He was wondering if the situation worked in his favour while he navigated down the busy streets of New York, trying to keep his mind off of Lo- ...the god.

The _god_ had seriously pissed him off with what was said to him earlier, annoyed enough to make him run away in his vulnerable cat form. _I will murder that bastard when I next see him; I will poison his crops, burn his house down, stab him in the heart and laugh as I watch the light dim in his eyes. Okay, maybe I won't do that... But I do have a serious grudge against him. That bastard thinks he can just turn me into a cat and expect me to think it's okay? Well buddy, you've got it wrong. Tony Stark does not approve of this. I'll show him who's the greatest when I get back to my tower and reverse this damn spell because I am not called a genius for nothing, no, I will show him, Mr I-have-magic-therefore-I'm-better-than-you. I'll make you sorry for encouraging me to run away in the first place_ _–_ _you don't give me a challenge and not expect me to do it. I'll make him pay for making me like him. Stupid, ignorant, pig-headed, sexy, gorgeous, annoying, adorable bastard._

The billionaire's internal rant continued on as he walked in the shadows of the paths like a ninja, not really paying attention to where he was heading because it wasn't hard to get lost when walking to a skyscraper that could be easily identified practically anywhere in the city thanks to its unique shape. He was too busy looking up to realise that there was scaffolding in the way and walked straight into a metal pole with a dull thud. After shaking his head for a bit to get over the pain in his forehead, he looked around the pole meekly to see the building work went on for quite a bit and he'd have to walk on the other side of the path – getting to the opposite side took him about ten minutes and a _lot_ of dodging the feet of pedestrians that couldn't see the little kitten.

_Stupid Loki. Stupid pedestrians. Stupid Tony. Stupid magic. Stupid scaffolding. Stupid New York. Stupid world._

"Look, a kitty!" He jumped in surprise as a nearby little girl shouted at him and went to grab his tail. Her mother was holding her hand but was too interested in talking to one of her mates to notice the kitten being harassed by her daughter. The young girl started to lumber towards the billionaire, looking like a giant zombie from his point of view, and attempted to grab him again while he tried to back away without getting trampled by the crowd surrounding him. If the girl got hold of him then he would be taken home by her or given to an animal shelter, and that would not be very productive in his plans to become human again.

The girl was now practically standing over him as he frantically tried to find a gap in the crowd he could slip through. She lunged at him again and he narrowly avoided her again, but now he was practically cornered between her and the mass of people behind him – she would probably definitely manage to grab him next time. _Why are kids so problematic and annoying and tall and, oh god she's really close now.._

Stark quickly prayed to any god that would listen before darting out into the crowd behind. He faintly heard the girl's mum tell her off for wandering away but was far more interested in not being trampled by then for it to register in his mind. His tail kept being trod on as he just aimed to get back to the side of the street again and into the shadows, away from all children. Business shows, sport shoes, fancy shoes and ooh he liked those shoes – shame he currently didn't have feet.

His tail was trod on again as he darted into an alleyway at the end of the construction site, glad that he wasn't squashed but seriously hating having a tail right then, and he crept into the darkness of the narrow path hoping that there was an exit at the end. He did _not_ want to walk down any more busy streets.

The darkness didn't seem to end but he assumed – hoped – that it was just because there was a bend in the alleyway that stopped him from seeing a street at the other end. 

A cat's howl sounded from the shadows and Tony stopped suddenly when it was accompanied by a skinny, white cat walked into his sight, dim light from the street behind made a little pathway of light through the shadows. Another almost-identical cat appeared by its mate's side and they glared at the scared kitten. _Brilliant, cat tramps... This is not ideal._

Tony used the shadows, his small size, and his dark fur to his advantage when he darted into the shadows and used both the cat's slow reaction times to consider what he should do. Should he try and run past them, hoping that there's not a dead end, or should he run back to the street and possibly get squished? He glanced over his shoulder to the street behind, checking to see if the crowd had gone down even a tiny bit, and managed to huff a little laugh at what he saw, even though he was about to possibly be scratched to death by homeless felines. Loki was walking past and glancing down the alleyway. Of all the people to see, of all of the places to be, and of all of the times to look around, he had looked around at the perfect moment.

He ran towards the street in hope of seeing the trickster again, still hidden in the shadows and ditching the two white cats. The gods above seemed to be smiling down upon him as he almost ran into Loki who had gone back to do a double take. Feeling luckier than he had done in ages, he jumped to grab onto the back of the Loki's long coat and stuck his tongue out at the alley cats as he got a lift to his tower via trickster-god. 

~x~ 

His paws were starting to ache by the time the trickster stopped in front of his very own Stark Towers and he jumped down, wandering around in a circle to stretch his legs while Loki was still stood there. Tony could have easily just left the god to continue searching while he went into his own home, it was where he was intending to go in the first place, but an invisible force seemed to stop him from leaving – he didn't want to run away any more yet he didn't want to just tell Loki that he was right behind him.

A man walked out of the doors and headed in the general direction of the kitten; the billionaire realising that it was Clint Barton, who rarely round Tony's house since he had 'better things to do' most of the time. _Weird, he never had visitors._ The kitten watched as the archer walked straight past him, seeming lost in his own thoughts, and wondered why he wasn't seen until he realised that he was only a tiny little ball of fur. _Oh yeah, I'm still a cat..._ He ran the short distance between himself and Clint, jumping in front of him until he looked down at kitten with a sigh – Tony wanted to see if one of his closest friends would recognise him or at least comment on the circle where his arc reactor would be.

_If he didn't have an arc reactor in him and he is still alive, does that mean that the shrapnel is gone? Or perhaps it's maybe the magic in his body stopping the shrapnel from moving... Damn magic._

“Hey little kitty, are you lost?” The archer bent down to stroke along Stark's back – not as good as Loki but still enough to make the billionaire feel squishy, “You got a home to go to? Damn, I'm talking to a cat...”

That made Tony realise Loki had already left and was now starting to disappear into the distance, the crowd having gone down as it got later. He now had a decision to make: What home should he go to? The billionaire looked back up at Clint, who had stopped stroking his back and was about to walk away, before following his heart and chasing after the trickster.


	16. Mission

**Chapter _erm..._ 16 – Mission**

Everyone was fixing New York, with the help of a lot of money donated by Stark Industries, and even though it had only been a short while since the attack, it looked as though there had only been a small hurricane with not one alien in sight. The Helicarrier spent a lot of its time above the city ever since the Chitauri attack, invisible to everyone apart from those who knew where it was. The Avengers rarely went up there though, instead they preferred to live their own lives and attempt to forget that they have a duty – although it felt more like a death sentence – to fulfil when the time came.

Thor spent his time with Jane Foster, researching ways to fix the Bifrost and making the most of her company while she was still around – mortal lives were very short in comparison to gods. Steve was taking a motorbike leant to him from Coulson around America, on a trip to find out what had happened to the world while he was unconscious in ice. The 'other guy' hadn't appeared since two months ago in the battle against the Chitauri and Bruce intended to keep it that way; he was spending his time researching ways to reverse his condition in various S.H.I.E.L.D. labs. Black Widow and Hawkeye were training every day so that their skills were good enough to fight off any bigger threats to the world – they were the only two who didn't have godly powers, metal suits or mutations, so potential world dominators saw them as the weakest and tried to kill them first. Tony spent his time locked up in his tower making his suits better – and researching about a certain god of mischief, but they didn't know that – because he didn't want a repeat of his suit cutting out in space again; not that he intended to go into space again but it's better to be safe than sorry.

Nobody else had been stupid enough to try and take over the world since everyone had seen Loki fail, so the Avengers didn't really have much to do. They rarely ever met up unless Fury called a meeting, preferring to text each other instead because it involved less awkward silences.

The Avengers – apart from Stark, obviously – were assembled around a large conference table on the Helicarrier, waiting for Director Fury to turn up. They were all dressed in casual clothing and chatting quietly, apart from Barton who was looking down at a phone in his hand; if anyone had of walked in, they wouldn't have thought that this team of normal-looking people were the superhero team who stopped an alien invasion just a couple of months ago.

“Barton, are you addicted to Angry Birds again?” Natasha sighed as she leant over the archer to reach a coffee pot sitting on the table next in between Bruce and Clint. There was so many 'angry bird/hawk' jokes whenever Barton got annoyed at a level in his game that they were no longer funny.

“Nope, FanFiction.”

“Oh, I read that a bit too!” Bruce shuffled his chair closer to Clint and looked over to what story was being read – it was something to do with the Avengers as the scientist saw his own name, “It's cute knowing how people think we act.”

 “I know right! I'm currently shipping ThunderShield although I do like a bit of Clintasha, obviously. Gotta love the smut.” Both of them were now reading off of the archer's phone, eyes glued to the screen as Clint scrolled down every now and then. The others in the room started discussing the new layout of the gym as they waited for Fury to turn up – none of them knew much about FanFic so they decided to just ignore the two that were reading.

Something funny had obviously happened in the story because Clint and Bruce were stifling giggles while they read on, just as Fury walked into the room with his black coat swishing dramatically behind him like Thor's cape. They managed to keep quiet as everyone else sat waiting for the meeting to begin, still reading intently.

“Did I miss a joke?” Fury said in a voice of pure boredom as he looked over in the direction of the archer who was laughing again at another joke in the story, “And is Agent Barton reading something other than comics? That's a first.”

“Sorry sir, can we postpone this meeting for about ten minutes? The story's getting good now.”

“It's called NSFW for a reason, Clint...”

“Anyone got any idea what they're on about?” Steve asked the rest of the room, looking annoyed that they were being sidetracked when there were more pressing topics to be dealt with. After everyone had shrugged or shook their head, he glared at the two giggling Avengers stern enough to make them stop reading, put down the phone and pay attention. Damn, he was good.

“So, why isn't Stark here? He should be on time considering we're right above his tower. Although it probably is a bit too early for his body to cope with.” Fury sat down at the head of the table and glared at the empty seat between Thor and Bruce as if trying to see an invisible person.

“That's why we're here, Director, Stark has gone missing.” The captain helpfully told him and everyone else; other than Clint who already knew and was looking smug as he saw the other Avenger’s realisation, “I called Tony yesterday morning – it was the fourth time I had called him and he hadn't picked up, although I'm not sure I even actually called him most times but that's beside the point – and I was worried so I sent Clint round to the tower to ask Tony if he was okay. Turns out that Stark has been missing since Thursday, as helpfully supplied by Jarvis.”

“Fifty bucks says he's been sleeping round some woman's house.” Natasha looked amused at everyone getting so worried about Stark disappearing for a few days, when he was perfectly capable of surviving by himself, and turned to see who would accept her bet.

“Fifty bucks says he's round a man's house.” Bruce replied with a grin; he was still a bit annoyed about being awake so early so he was going to annoy Fury as much as he could in the hope that he'll dismiss the meeting and he can go back to sleep as soon as possible.

“ _Man_?” Steve raised an eyebrow at the scientist, who was now shaking hands with the female spy to seal their bets.

Before Bruce could reply, Fury suddenly spoke up and made everyone go silent again, “The absence of Stark can't be considered a high priority unless we know for sure that he's in danger. Our main concern should be that bastard Thor calls a brother, who is out there somewhere plotting our deaths as we speak. Do we have any more info on where he could be?”

The question was directed at the thunder-god, who shook his head sadly in response. Of course he knew where his brother was but he wasn't willing to tell Fury that, he would rather have Loki learn from his mistakes instead of a severe punishment that would just make him even more spiteful. Even though he didn't think that his brother had changed at all since their last meeting, there was still a tiny bit of hope inside of him that said Loki will get better when given enough time. He didn't care one bit about lying to S.H.I.E.L.D. because he didn't take commands off of a shouty man with a short temper, especially when said man wanted his brother dead. 

“I'll send out a search party on Thursday if Stark hasn't returned by then. We will also take that opportunity to look for Loki as well. Everybody got that?”

The Avengers nodded in synchronisation, none of them happy that they had to work as Avengers again when they were finally getting their lives as normal as they could be, but accepting the fact that they had a duty to fulfil. If anybody noticed that it was weird for Thor to agree so easily for a search party to be sent out after his brother, they didn't comment on it.

“Just to make it clear; if you find Stark, I will kill him for wasting my time...

...and if you find Loki, you kill him.”


	17. Master Plan

**Chapter 17 – Master Plan**

Tony loved the freedom of being able to wake up when he wanted to. Normally, Jarvis would open his blinds at half-nine and the billionaire would be blinded awake by the early morning sun. Why he programmed his AI to do that, he'll never know, but it was one of the reasons why he normally slept down in his lab – no windows = no sunlight. The main reason he slept down there, though, was because he stayed up until the early hours working on his suits and ended up so tired that he couldn't be bothered to drag himself to his bedroom, he'd rather sleep sprawled across the blueprints for his work.

Now, with no Jarvis and no work to make him stay up late, Tony was free to wake up whenever he wanted to; it was a rare luxury for him to be in an actual bed and have a lie-in. He rolled onto his back and stretched out, relishing in how his joints popped, not opening his eyes in fear that the perfection of the morning so far would be ruined. As he rolled back on to his stomach, he felt something squishy under his paws – yes, it was the first morning so far that he knew he was a cat from the moment he woke up – and kneaded his paws into the squishiness because it felt good to the cat part of his mind.

The squishy objects moved slightly and it was only then that Tony bothered to open his eyes. It turned out that he was giving Loki's leg a massage but thankfully he hadn't managed to wake up the god who was still asleep. _And I thought_ I _slept for ages..._ He laid down on the trickster's legs again, loving how comfy it was, and thought through his 'Master Plan' that he had made up just before he went to sleep;

_**Tony's Master Plan:** _

_1\. Become human again_

_2\. Make Loki like me as much as I like him_

_3\. Make the team like Loki_

The billionaire smiled at the three steps on his mental list, glad that they all seemed simple enough to succeed. Contrary to popular belief, he was actually an organised man who kept lists on everything and could only really focus on something as long as it was on his 'to do' list; he could understand instructions easily, thanks to his engineer/scientist mind. It was a bit late to be making New Year's resolutions, but these were now his – even though it was nearly October but, hey, who was keeping track?

A vibrating sound, coming from over where the billionaire's clothes were on the desk, broke the silence and made him jump in surprise; it sounded a lot louder than it probably was and managed to wake up Loki. The god simply raised his head a slight bit to acknowledge the kitten resting on his bed before sinking back into the pillow and yawning. With his messy hair that stuck up in odd angles and tired eyes, Tony found it hard to believe that this normal looking man was royalty _and_ an actual god.

“ _Erm... I think that's my phone.”_ Before he had even finished speaking, Loki had his phone in hand and was poking the screen inquisitively, _“How did you get that without moving?”_

“Magic,” was the simple reply he got as he practically ran up the bed to the trickster who seemed to be intrigued by the little electronic device the billionaire took for granted everyday. He peeked over Loki's arm to quickly glance at what the message was before the god closed down the texting screen and started going through his photo gallery instead.

_**Hope you're okay. SR**_

“SR? What's a SR?” Loki said after about a minute of silence, as Tony cringed at some of the embarrassing photos of himself the god was casually flicking through.

“ _Steve Rogers,”_ The raised eyebrow in his direction told him that the god had no idea who he was on about, _“Captain America. You know, the guy in spandex with a shield?”_

“Oh, him... He's a persistent one, isn't he? He called yesterday and now he's sending you text messages to ask if you're okay.” There was a – very small but still there, no matter how hard Loki tried to hide it – hint of jealousy in the trickster's voice when he regarded Steve, and the billionaire had no idea what to say in reply. Yes, the super-soldier was a good friend and he got along well with him more than most people; although not as close as Bruce or Clint, to be honest, but still close enough to be considered what some people would call 'best friends'. But he wasn't any more that a good work colleague to Tony, and _definitely_ not somebody he would be dating – _no offence Steve._

Tony's mind was stuck between thinking of what to say in reply and a question that seemed to be more prominent at that moment; Why would Loki be jealous of him possibly being more than just friends with Steve? Is it because perhaps maybe _he_ wanted to be more than just friends with the billionaire? Well that was just too good to be true, which is why Tony didn't think that it was likely for a guy who's mind is, as Bruce so helpfully put it, 'a bag full of cats'. _Maybe I could clear away those other cats and be the only one on Loki's mind?_

“ _He's just worried that I might be out tarnishing the perfect image of the Avengers, no other reason.”_ He made sure to make it very clear that there was _nothing_ between him and the super-soldier, just in case the god needed a blunt answer.

“Oh, okay then.” Loki's voice sounded just a tiny bit cheerier but it was enough to make a grin appear on Tony's kitten face, the Master Plan was all falling into place.


	18. Help

**Chapter 18 – Help**

Once Loki had spent a good ten minutes scrolling through the photos on the billionaire's phone, he had realised how hungry he was and left Tony to play on the electronic device while he went to make breakfast. Tony had missed his phone greatly over the past few days but now he had checked his emails and found out that he'd missed nothing of importance, there was nothing else on the phone that interested him.

He strolled past the kitchen to surprisingly find the smell of food coming from the living room behind him. Loki was sat on the sofa reading a novel, if Tony didn't know any better then he would have thought that the god had been sat there for ages, with a bowl of cat food placed on the floor a few metres away from his feet. The billionaire grinned as he almost ran over to the food, super hungry for no reason whatsoever, but paused briefly and looked up at Loki; there was a question on his mind that wouldn't budge and was more important than eating right then.

“ _Thanks for the food... Soooo, erm... Loki?”_ Tony paused to make sure that the god was listening, waiting for his eyes to briefly flick up before continuing, _“When am I going to be human again? Like, you know, erm... I do like it here, don't get me wrong! I love it here; from the lack of central heating to the awkward shower time! But, you know, I would like to be me again...”_

If the billionaire hadn't of seen that brief flicker in Loki's 'this book is more interesting than you right now' façade, he would have just assumed that his words hadn't even been registered and were now lost, because he wasn't willing to repeat himself – awkward enough the first time. He knew that Loki had heard him though, even if the acting was trying to make him consider otherwise, but he had no idea why the trickster was still silent. To be honest, _nobody_ knows what goes on in that wild mind of his, but Tony felt as though he knew him just a little bit better than other people and the gods above – he had payed attention to every little detail since day one, although admittedly he was initially afraid for his own life.

“I can't.”

Tony did a double take and stared at Loki, not quite knowing whether anything had been said or if it was just his imagination, _“Did you say something?”_

“I can't turn you back into a human.” Loki was no longer paying attention to his book but he was looking down at the carpet just in front of the kitten, “My magic is too weak right now, and too unstable to even attempt to use on you. I can't change you back, sorry, unless you have some sort of magic amplifier on you?” He huffed a little laugh that sounded borderline sad and glanced back down to his book, non-moving eyes indicating that he wasn't actually reading.

“ _That was the most heartfelt thing I've ever heard from you and I know it was just a weak attempt at humour, buut, I think I might actually have a 'magic amplifier'...”_ The god looked up quickly, hopefully, and raised an eyebrow – a move that would have made the billionaire shiver with lust if his mind wasn't currently racing with a million calculations and plans of action.

“ _Ages ago I made a magic-detector thingy to stop any future attacks from gods that were hell-bent on world domination because, well, I don't like being unable to beat something, the knowledge of being unsafe will eat me up inside until I end up going mad. Anyway, I've also realised that it may have an adverse reaction on local mages. Maybe it's the reason why your magic is going funny right now? If I could get hold of it, I could reverse engineer it and perhaps make it into an amplifier?”_ He left out the fact that he was using it to search for the god, and he knew that Loki could see right through the lie like crystal, but he needed to convince the trickster that he could help. Although he did really enjoy it there, he was getting more and more frustrated with not being able to do basic human actions and relying on someone else all of the time. 

“Where is this device you speak of?”

“ _My tower...”_

“Let's get it.”


	19. Trust

**Chapter 19 – Trust**

“Guys? Guys!” Clint yelled while running as fast as he could down the corridor, “Guys? Where are you?” The doors all looked alike in the middle levels of the tower – people other than the Avengers hardly went there so there was no need for flashy technology everywhere – and he was having a hard time finding where Thor and Steve had gone.

Two heads peeked out from a doorway at the end of the corridor and he sprinted to them even faster than he thought possible. As he got closer he realised they were the two Avengers he was searching for and skidded to a halt just in time.

“Clint, what's the matter? Did you find it?” Steve acknowledged the archer who was desperately trying to get his breathing back to normal.

“I... He... Loki! Loki is... in the tower! I just saw him!” Clint gasped, Thor's eyes widening in a mixture of shock and hope at the mention of his brother.

“Jarvis, lock down the tower,” the super-soldier looked between the other two before readying himself for action, “And let's go get him.”

~x~

Getting into Stark Towers was relatively simple; just walk in, keep your head down, and enter 5654 to get into the elevator.

Once inside the elevator, Loki let go of the breath he didn't know he was holding and took Tony out from under his long coat. Their plan was relatively simple: they would go into the lab and Loki will get the 'magic amplifier' while Tony erases the surveillance camera footage using his computer. There was no plan about how they would escape yet but the billionaire assumed that they would just take the elevator back down and then just run back to Loki's apartment.

_72 nd floor. Lab 6 and Master Bruce's room._

The doors opened to reveal a corridor that was painted in a deep red all around and had many identifiable doors on every side, each one leading to either an empty room or a random guest room that had never been used.

One door stood out from the others, a slightly larger metal door with a keypad on the wall next to it, and that was the door they headed towards. Tony was far more cautious than the god was, constantly looking behind them while Loki just stormed off like he owned the place – it really should have been the other way around considering _he_ owned the place...

They reached the door quite quickly and Loki looked down to the kitten, expecting the key code to the door.

“ _I'll only tell you if you ask nicely."_

The god sighed and forced out a, " _Please_ , Tony, will you tell me what the pass code is?"

_"Well, seeing as you asked so nicely, it's 1895221."_

Loki entered the code easily and the door swung open to the relatively large lab that was technically Bruce's but he never used it. Tony jumped up on a table to the right of the room, next to some large windows that were wide open, and started poking at the keyboard.

~x~

"It's got to be here somewhere," Clint muttered as he rustled through yet another drawer full of papers, "Steve, are you still watching the door?"

"No! If Bruce catches you in here then I don't care," the super-soldier replied from next to the closed door.

Thor peeked over the side of the bed from where he was searching underneath, "'Tis got to be here somewhere!"

Dr. Banner had photos from Tony's last party hidden somewhere and they were determined to find them before they could be used for blackmail. Well, Steve pretended he didn't care but he secretly wanted those photos destroyed too – even if it went against his morals.

"Perhaps he keeps them in the lab? It is password protected so I guess he'd think it's safe." The archer suggested after getting his sixth paper-cut.

"But he never goes in that lab," Thor added sadly.

"But that's why he'd think we'd never check!"

And with that, Clint jogged over to the door and opened it cautiously to look for Bruce and then continued down towards the lab in a hurry.

When he got there, the first thing he noticed was that the metal door had been left open. He was going to turn away and tell the other two that Bruce was in the lab when a British voice that wasn't Bruce or even Jarvis came from inside the lab. The person seemed to be talking to someone else or themselves and Clint, curious as ever and just plain nosey, crept towards the doorway.

He paused, frozen to the spot and not even daring to breathe, when the voice said, "It's lighter than I expected," and forced himself to get over his fear and keep moving.

His mind was trying to think of where he had heard the voice before and it wasn't long until he managed to look around the door and find out: Loki. Of _course_ it was Loki. Standing with his back to the door in a long black coat that he didn't recognise but the hair gave it away instantly.

"This is going to be very useful-" Clint didn't hear any more, that voice brought back memories of when he was under the Tesseract's control and he didn't like it one bit. Turning back towards Bruce's room, he sprinted off in search of the other two.

~x~

 _"Brilliant! I'm into the tower's camera memory and currently deleting all traces of us."_ Tony explained to the god who was currently fascinated by the technology in the room and probably didn't hear him, _"Could you shut that window as well please? It's a bit chilly in here."_

"Where's the device you spoke of?" _Yep, he wasn't even listening._

 _"Over there, it's the square thingy."_ The billionaire replied with a nod of his head in the general direction of the device, eyes not leaving the computer screen as he entered codes as fast as a kitten could before someone realised the system was being tampered with.

Loki easily found the device and picked it up; it was about the size of an average football and shiny all over with buttons on one of the faces, "It's lighter than I expected," he told the kitten that was still tapping away at the keyboard, "This is going to be very useful, thank you."

 _"No need to thank me, I-"_ Tony was cut off as a flashing red light filled the room and an alarm blared through the tower.

The billionaire was about to explain what the alarm meant – although it's kind of obvious that red flashing lights and alarms meant that something was wrong and this something was more than likely them two – when the god sped over to him, device in one hand, and picked the kitten up into his arms. 

“ _How the hell are we gonna get out of here?!”_ Tony panicked, glaring at the door in search of an Avenger that would be with them any second, _“I can't even talk to Jarvis!”_ He ceased his worrying for a second to stare up at the trickster's blank face, _“Loki! What are we going to do?”_

As if coming back from a daydream, Loki's eyes suddenly had life back in them as he looked down at the kitten curled up in his arms, “Do you trust me?” 

“ _Is this really the time for that?”_  

“Just answer me! Do you trust me?”

“ _Well yes, yes I do. Why?”_ He blurted out, no idea why trust was relevant when they were going to be murdered the moment an Avenger found them.

The second after that was a blur; Loki turned to face the window, Thor burst into the room, Tony felt wind from the open window on his face, and then he was falling.

Loki had just thrown him out of the 72nd floor window.

Loki had just thrown him out of a window for the second time in the past year.

 _This is it,_ he thought as the ground got closer and closer by the second, _I don't even have an Iron Man suit to save me. I'm going to die._

_Is it true a cat always lands on his feet?_


	20. The End (Or is it?)

**Chapter 20 – The End _(Or is it?)_**  

“Will your plans for revenge ever cease?”

Loki took a deep breath before turning to face the thunder-god. He had just dropped a defenceless kitten – who just happened to also be Tony Stark – out of a window and had limited time, _very_ limited time.

“Oh no, it's not just revenge this time.”

“Why don't you just go back to Asgard and plead you case to father? I'm sure he'll shorten your prison sentence once you've explained yourself.” Normally when Thor was telling him to return to Asgard he looked pleading but now he looked like he wouldn't take Loki's shit any more – not good.

He was using the conversation as distraction as he pressed buttons slowly – so they didn't make a sound – on the device behind his back. Thank goodness he nearly always stood with his hands behind his back so he didn't look weird. The only problem was that he guessed Tony would be the type to put a random self destruct button on just for laughs, so he avoided the biggest button.

“I've explained my case to him once before and that didn't work, I'm not trying again.”

“He will find you eventually, you know.”

Loki knew that he couldn't hide forever and he wouldn't even admit to himself that he was scared to go back to prison, “I'd like to see him try.

Getting desperate now, and seriously running out of time, he jabbed the biggest button hastily, hoping and on the verge of praying that it wouldn't explode. He heard the click. He was sure the thunder-god had heard it too considering he was now more alert and curiously staring at Loki. 

While so close to the device that seemed to be able to block magic he hadn't been able to feel even the faintest bit of magical energy, but power seemed to filling his veins once he had obviously turned the machine off.

Thor had sensed the sudden rush of energy in the room too and lunged forwards, towards the trickster.

He smacked his head on the window frame and looked back to see Loki wasn't there, also noticing that he'd just ran through thin air instead of into another god.

~x~ 

The thrill of the adrenaline, the blood pumping through his veins. Tony Stark was used to nearly dying, but now he was seconds away to death he didn't know how to feel. Should he be scared? Sad? Relieved?

His thoughts were stuck on Loki and Loki alone. Not Iron Man or the Avengers or even Pepper, Loki. Why? Why would he be thinking about his murderer in his last moments when he's had so much happen in his life he could reflect on?

Why didn't he tell the trickster how he felt? It might have made the god think twice about chucking him out the window and perhaps he would still be up there now.

The air whipped the fur on his little body and made it hard to keep his eyes open but his sight stayed fixed on the pavement below. It wasn't busy down there so only about one person would see his insides paint the concrete. There wasn't even a hope of falling onto something soft as the street was empty where he expected he would land. 

With so many questions left unanswered and with a small feeling of sadness among his confusion, the billionaire shut his eyes and made the most of his last half second alive by thinking of how many people's lives his work has made better – at least that was something he could be proud of.

…

 

…

 

…

 

…


	21. Saved

**Chapter 21 – Saved**

The impact didn't seem as bad as he thought it would be. _Must be because I died suddenly._ In fact it seemed almost as if the pavement was... soft. Well, he could still feel his body and it was still like a kitten – _Oh god, am I stuck in the afterlife as a kitten?!_ – and he was still breathing... _Wait, breathing?_

He opened one eye slightly to find out that he wasn't on the concrete or in the afterlife or even hurt in any way. He was very much alive and the adrenaline was still coursing through his veins.

He couldn't control his body; tears were threatening to spill from his eyes and his body was shaking like crazy. In the process of thanking every god – apart from Loki considering that god just threw him out of a window – for saving him, he managed to blink away a few of the tears and find out what he had fallen on because it most definitely wasn't concrete.

Or a better description would be _who_ had _caught_ him.

_"Loki?!"_

Thanks to his shivering, he didn't notice that the god was running at a breakneck speed down the streets of New York, swerving between pedestrians with ease, but panting a lot more than a god should be.

Loki had saved him. Loki had kept his word and given Tony even more reason to trust him.

This was too much emotion for the billionaire to handle within less than a minute; one second he's falling and the next he's just been saved by his 'murderer' - _why could he never have a normal day?_

He couldn't think of anything else to be said and spent the remainder of the journey – he figured out they were heading towards the apartment – getting rid of any tears that were in his eyes because he did _not_ want anyone to see him crying.

~x~

 The door was shoved open by the trickster's elbow and by the time it had swung shut again both of them were on the sofa, Loki still holding the kitten close to his chest. Tony still had his eyes shut, head buried in the god's arms, and focused only on breathing deeply until his heart rate had returned to nearly normal. It was only then that he realised that it was Loki shivering, not him, and snapped his head up to look upon the trickster who looked paler than normal. Honestly, he'd gone from the colour of a vampire to a ghostly shade of pale green, and his eyes were glazed over like he was in a trance.

 _"Loki are you okay?"_ It sounded like a stupid question but it had been a hectic day for Tony and he decided that he was allowed to ask dumb questions.

"Yes, yes, I'm fine, you're fine, we're all fine." The ghostly façade dropped suddenly and the god seemed to be back to normal, well, _almost_ back to normal. For it to be normal, Loki would have talked in a voice that was less shaky.

 _"No you're not okay, okay? Your face is greener than them vegetables you keep trying to make me eat and last time I checked, A: gods didn't run out of energy after running just a couple of blocks and B: even though I say I trust you, it doesn't mean you can chuck me out of a skyscraper! Did you even have a plan?! If you did then why didn't you at least warn-"_ He stopped his little rant when he looked Loki in the eye and saw he looked sad. This was the child that always wasn't as good as his brother, the god that was always mocked for being different, the man that's been kicked down all the way through his life and had practically given up. This god had been told that he was rubbish all the way through his life so many times that he believed it. Yes, the billionaire may have had bad days, but Loki probably didn't know what a good day even felt like. 

It all clicked in his mind at that moment: Loki had used loads of his unstable magic to teleport down in time to save Tony and that must have drained him of all his energy – he found unlocking his door tiring on the best of days.

He was a bad person. He was the most ungrateful and selfish and heartless being to ever live; he had no right to call Loki evil when this was how he behaved himself.

 _"Thank you. Thank you ever so much. I'm so sorry I doubted my trust in you and I don't think I could ever thank you enough. You're the greatest person... god, ever, Loki."_ It was soppy and it was cringe worthy but it had to be said.

The god's face seemed to light up brighter than his arc reactor in a dark room and Tony could tell that there was so much that Loki wanted to say but it felt pointless after the little speech from the heart.

"Now we have the device I can turn you back into a human."

 _"Yeah..."_ The billionaire was stuck between wanting to be able to do basic human things again and wanting an excuse to be with Loki all the time. He didn't want to think about when they would just part ways; Tony leaving to be alone in his giant tower and Loki staying in this shabby apartment room alone, both of them probably never meeting up again.

"Although I will have to rest first."

 _"Of course! Rest as much as you want, I don't mind!"_ Tony reassured him quickly before he tried pushing his weak body past breaking point – that would not help anyone in the slightest.

He was exhausted too. Yes, it was barely afternoon but he just wanted to sleep and put the days drama behind him. His sleeping pattern was messed up anyway so this was nothing new to him.

They both moved to the bed shortly after that, Loki not even bothering to change out of his clothes although he did take off his shoes and coat. The softness of the duvet made his mind hazy and his eyelids feel as though they were being pulled down by Mjölnir.

"Sleep well Tony."

The billionaire's mind wasn't working like normal when he yawned out his reply. _"G'night Loki. Love you."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See, I'm not evil!


	22. Agitation

**Chapter 22 – Agitation**

“What. The. Actual. _Fuck?!_ ” The Avengers stayed silent while they let the Director have his rant, it was best to not talk at all, “Just this morning we were in the Helicarrier and then what? Fucking _Loki_ is in the tower! I don't get paid enough for this shit...”

Bruce and Natasha had joined the other Avengers in the lab where Loki was last seen a few minutes after the god had disappeared, Fury had turned up ten minutes after them. Once they had seen that the security camera footage had been deleted and there was no other evidence other that what Thor and Clint say they saw, all of them had moved to conference room 21B – the room they always went to after a security breach for no reason other than sentiment – to decide what should be done.

"Long time, no see, eh?" Clint was silenced with a glare and what could only have been a growl from Fury.

"Before I get started, I would like to say that Stark is alive and well and, according to his credit card, buying stuff from a supermarket not far from here."

"If he's so nearby then why hasn't he at least come back to the tower?" Bruce started, which earned a few nods in agreement from the others, "Or is it even him buying the stuff? What if someone's just stolen his card?"

"You're supposed to be the genius, work it out yourself." Everyone looked round at the super soldier who looked almost murderous.

"Don't look at me like that. I do care about Tony but he can look after himself, it's Loki we should be worried about. You know, the maniac who was here less than an hour ago and then just _vanished_?"

"It was either an illusion or he just disappeared in time..." Thor knew that the Loki he had bantered with was real but how he vanished was unknown to him. When Loki was put in prison, Odin placed a binding spell on his magic and even though it would have worn off a bit while being on Earth, there was no way he'd be strong enough to use so much energy.

"What was he here for anyway?" The archer interrupted Thor's train of thought with what had been bugging everyone.

The edge of Fury's mouth twitched up in a partially annoyed grimace, "Now, that's where it gets interesting; Stark has been working on a device that will block magical attacks – or that's at least all he thought it could do – and Loki has stolen it. Why he wants a magic-blocking device is beyond me though..."

"I thought he was supposed to be in prison?"

Bruce was absent when Thor had told the Avengers that Loki had escaped and hadn't questioned it until now – it wasn't that important to him until the escaped god had got past their security.

"He escaped."

"Seriously? He runs away from a 'high security' prison and not _one_ Asgardian is after him?"

"I can assure you that Asgard is searching for him." A blatant lie but Bruce wouldn't know that.

"Can't they help us search then?" 

"They have bigger priorities right now!" He had no idea how his father would react to the news of Loki's escape and didn't want to be the one to tell him.

“Why were you lot even on the floor Loki was on anyway?” Natasha raised her eyebrow in the direction of the guys. She wasn't actually that bothered about Loki because they'd beaten him once and they could beat him again, her only problem was that this might interfere with her holiday to Hawaii next week.

"Well, we were..." Clint started before it faded off into a murmur, glancing at the scientist who was annoyed enough at the moment.

Fury rolled his eye and prompted, "You were?"

"We were... in Bruce's room-"

"You were in my room?!" Bruce slammed his fists on the table, "Calm down Banner, calm down..."

“Well you shouldn't of taken them pictures then!”

“The pictures are on my phone. Did you really think I'd be stupid enough to leave photos lying around.”

“No! I don't think you're stupid-”

“That isn't what it sounds li-”

“Shut the fuck up!” Both of the squabbling Avengers shut up instantly when Fury's voice overpowered theirs, “Once everyone has stopped acting like children we will start a search for that bastard trickster.” Thor flinched at what he was calling Loki but said nothing – not a good time to start a fight.

“Yes Sir.”


	23. Prison

**Chapter 23 – Prison**  

Now, what Loki had done in New York was unlike what Odin had ever experienced before so he had no idea how to deal with the situation. Did he go to prison? Was he given the death penalty? Did he go back to make up for what he damaged? Banishment? He couldn't bear the sight of his youngest son and just ordered for him to be thrown in jail with the murderers and maniacs, never to be seen again. Or at least for as long as it took for Odin to be able to look at him again – which probably wouldn't be another few centuries at least.

Thor objected the notion of his brother just being locked away and forgotten but there was nothing he could do about it; he would rather kiss a bileshnipe than tell Odin that he felt a bit sorry for Loki. Over time, he told himself that Loki deserved the punishment, that he deserved every second of being locked away, trying to force himself to believe that his father was doing the right thing. Although it did help himself look Odin in the eye again, a little part of him still hoped and prayed to whatever gods pray to that his brother would be returned to him.

Being locked up was _boring._ He'd counted all the bricks around the cell multiple times, probably even a million times. (There's 2651 bricks in the entire cell if anybody cared to know.)

_Bored._

The silence was only ever broken by the occasional yell for freedom by one of the other residence. They'd never be let out, regardless of how loud they yell. Normally they would shut up after a few days and accept their fate, but every now and then somebody would shout just for the sake of shouting. Why they did, Loki never knew – nobody, not even a guard, went down to the dungeons unless another Asgardian was being given a cell. Gods could survive forever without any food so none was ever delivered to them and the hunger eventually would drive them (even more) insane.

The latest prisoner had stopped demanding to be released about an hour ago, although it could have been years ago considering that Loki didn't know what day it was and especially didn't know what time it was. All of the dungeon was bathed in silence and, even though he detested other people's pathetic cries for help, the trickster god hated the silence; it was too much like the abyss he'd fallen into just before he'd been tortured and allowed his thoughts to replay his darkest moments on a never-ending loop.

_Bored._

_Creak..._ Slowly, the door to his cell opened and his eyesight whipped from the wall to the heavy door. Nobody had opened the door to his cell since he was thrown in there so he had no idea who it could be. _Frigga? Odin? A guard?_ … Thor?!

“Quick, brother, save yourself while there's still time!” He ushered towards the hallway and Loki scrambled to join him – no way was he passing up an opportunity to leave the never-ending boredom, even if for a few minutes.

“Why are you letting me escape? I'll just be locked up again as soon as Odin finds me.” The trickster whispered back, watching in surprise as his older brother closed the large door to the cell he was in moments ago.

Thor hurried them down to the entrance of the dungeon, trying his hardest to stay quiet so they didn't alert the other prisoners that someone had just left. They reached the large, heavy doors that separated the prison from the rest of the palace and Thor took extra care in making sure they were fully locked.

Loki looked around the corridor as if he was only seeing it for the first time – there were large windows opposite them that showed trees rustling in a breeze and the beautiful sky that he used to look up at for days on end, losing himself in the constellations and swirly colours. The walkway was dark and judging by the colour of the sky it was nearly the morning – the sun would rise within the hour. He looked to his brother for an explanation. _What if this is all a trick? I think I'm escaping when I'm actually being taken to my execution._

"You know all the secret routes out of Asgard better than I do; now's the time to use them," the thunder-god double checked that the corridors were clear before turning to face his dumbstruck brother again, "Go, just go!" 

"But what about Heimdall?"

"I'm off to talk to him before he tells father, I'll order him to keep this between us and nobody else, now go!"

"I... Thank... Why? Why help me escape?" He covered up his inability to thank Thor with his unanswered question from earlier.

"Because you deserve another chance at freedom, to have a fresh start, to show everybody – even if it's just yourself – that you can be... good. Just like our childhood, eh?"

"Yeah," Loki tried his hardest to cover up his joy that someone still cared with a slight sarcastic tone to his voice, "Just like the good old days."

With a final half smile he ran off into the night and towards a little bit of freedom, courtesy of his brother.


	24. Reverse

**Chapter 24 – Reverse**

_"Dammit. Ow! Damn!"_

Tony was trying to reverse the function of the device so that it would amplify magic and help Loki in his cat-to-human spell. From what he kept muttering, the god thought he was failing and offered to help, only to be told that the billionaire had it 'under control'.

 _"Shit!"_ A wire near his nose sparked. He scrabbled backwards, stared at the wires, and then jumped back towards the device. It kept sparking quite a bit but that was mainly because he dropped the wires frequently – damn his kitten paws.

Loki was sat on the sofa playing with a bit of string he'd found lying around, wrapping it around his fingers then waving it in the air. He'd stopped watching the kitten long ago when he realised that if he started laughing then Tony might complain even more – and he didn't want to piss off the only one who knew how to work the device. Granted, he might be able to find out how to use it but it was so much easier to let the engineer do the work.

He noticed there was no longer any complaining and looked over to see Tony by his feet looking proud, _“Finished!”_

“That was quick... Are you sure it's all working?”

“ _Yep.”_

“Are you sure it won't backfire?”

“ _I am very certain that this will work – I_ am _a genius. Although I must warn you that it will only work once; so much magic will break my poor ickle machine after one try so get it right first time!”_

The god shut his eyes, focusing on harnessing the energy in the room. It was a lot easier than usual and he felt his body surge with power and strength that he hadn't experienced since before he was in prisoned.

“Are you ready?” He said without opening his eyes, ready to attempt his spell.

“ _Pretty much, yeah.”_

Loki concentrated hard and muttered something under his breath that wasn't in any language Tony recognised. A light green glow lit up the room slightly. The muttering got faster. The billionaire braced himself.

Tony had to close his eyes as the room filled with a bright light.


	25. Thanks

**Chapter 25 – Thanks**

When he dared to open one eye, the first thing he saw was Loki breathing heavily with his eyes shut – obviously exhausted but not as much as he was when he normally used magic. _Hell yeah, my magic-amplifier-thingy worked!_ The second thing he saw was that he was looking at the god from an average human height and it was only then that he looked down at himself. Thirdly, he noticed, “I'm nude! Don't open your eyes!”

He ran off into the bedroom in search of his clothes. _Well, I'm human again..._

By the time he returned Loki was still sitting down and looking at the door expectantly, obviously waiting for his return, but also seemed as though he was dreading whatever walked through the door at the same time – still playing with the bit of string absentmindedly.

"I'm human," Tony said with jazz hands in an attempt to lighten the god's mood.

"Well observed." Loki didn't seem right; he was supposed to be happy that his magic worked yet he was cold for no reason, "Are you leaving now then?"

"I don't think anyone's expecting me..."

"Well, you wouldn't want them to worry for any longer than they should."

"Why are you being like this?" The billionaire practically yelled at Loki. It made him flinch a tiny bit but, other than that, there was no change in his expression.

"Why are you still here?"

For a long moment Tony was silent. Was this really the god that he'd come to know so well over the past few days? Was this really the god who had been so – for lack of a better word – fluffy? _Although_ he _technically was the fluffy one..._ He was sad that he had to leave but why was- _Oh._ Then it clicked: Loki was sad that he was leaving too and was trying to detach himself from any emotions 

"Thank you," he muttered to the ground after he felt the silence had gone on for too long, the god still staring at him.

"It was pretty basic magic-"

"You don't understand! Thank you for taking up my time while I was searching for you, for doing a spell just as I walked in and ruined it, for turning me into a kitten, for providing me with food and somewhere to sleep, for not freaking out too much when you found out who I really am, for making me laugh more than I have for ages, for putting up with me, for saving me, for keeping your promise of turning me back into a human, and thank you for trusting me enough to show me who you really are." He looked up again, slightly embarrassed after pouring his heart out to a god who's just had to put up with him for the past few days, to see Loki still staring at him but with a softer, shocked expression now.

"I thought you'd be angry at me for what I did..." The god admitted sheepishly, no longer looking at the billionaire and favouring to glare at a random area of the floor.

Tony huffed a laugh and shook his head, "Nah, it was fun, honest."

Loki didn't respond for quite a while so he took that as an invitation to leave – glad the god didn't comment on his outburst of feelings. He would've liked to of seen more emotion from Loki but he was glad he stopped the god acting so cold. _Well, time to go..._ After checking that he still had his phone on him, he turned and went to make his way back to the tower. 

"Goodbye, Tony."

For once in his life, he didn't actually know what to say; did he tell Loki exactly how he felt or just say goodbye and walk away?

Loki didn't want the billionaire to leave. It was pure coincidence that Tony was here and they ended up in this situation, he should just apologise for wasting the billionaire's time and let him leave but he didn't want to. He wanted to say something as heartfelt as Tony but he didn't know how. _What if Tony doesn't feel as strongly about me as I feel about him?_ Unsure what to do, the god stood up but didn't know what to do next. Part of him wanted to hug the billionaire but another part just told him to let him go – he always ended up alone in the end.

Tony turned back around but all the words he wanted to say stuck in his throat. He noticed Loki was standing too and part of him assumed that it was to drag him out of the apartment already. He didn't know how to say goodbye and thank you and all the other things racing around his mind to the god. 

So he walked over and kissed the god of mischief.


	26. Return

**Chapter 26 – Return**

“Oh, hey guys! What are you lot doing here? Last time I checked, none of you lived here...”

"So you're back from your little holiday, and while you were gone one of the most dangerous criminals broke into the tower!"

"Oh, really? What one?" Tony feigned innocence as Fury greeted him with as much cheer as ever.

"My brother." The thunder-god hadn't stopped glaring at the billionaire since he entered the room, nowhere near as happy/angry/not bothered as the others – possibly thinking of ways to kill him slowly. _Could he, like,_ smell _Loki's magic on me? I hope not... Act casual._

"Meh. I expected someone worth being scared about..."

"Where were you anyway?" Steve was perched on the back of a sofa and was possibly the happiest to see him.

Tony only just managed to suppress a grin, "I was at a mates house."

"Male or female?" Natasha asked, looking almost bored. 

"Don't see how that's relevant... Male."

"You owe me fifty bucks, Nat." Bruce looked over to the red-head with a grin plastered on his face.

The moment that Tony had stepped out of the elevator and into his apartment, before Jarvis could even say _“Welcome back, sir.”_ , the Avengers and Fury had suddenly appeared from nowhere – or so it seemed – to lecture him about the importance of telling people where you're going before you disappear. Tony had given them all rooms in his newly-refurbished tower but the only time any of them were used was after his 'we won the battle of new York, now lets get drunk' party weeks ago.

“Look, if none of you have anything interesting to say then I'm going to just drink and hope you all leave.” Tony announced as he walked to his bar. He didn't have the time or patience to talk with anybody, especially after being a kitten only this morning – his fingers felt a bit tingly for no reason so he blamed the magic.

As he wandered past Clint, he saw that the archer was reading something on his phone, "Do my eyes device me? Are you actually _reading_?"

"Yep." Barton replied, too engrossed in his story to be bothered to say full sentences.

"What ya reading?" 

"Fanfiction."

"Really? Please don't tell me you're reading stories about the Avengers..."

"FrostIron."

".... What?"

"You and Loki. I'm currently shipping it."

The billionaire thought about it for a few seconds; _Ship? Ship. I've heard that term before... Ship? Oh, ship! Wait... Ship?!_ “Wait, you're reading about _me_ and _Loki_ in a _relationship_?!”

There was no reply from the archer as he continued reading and Tony's mind raced as he thought about people actually thinking him and Loki would make a good couple – which made his mind wander to that morning when he left the god. Yes, he'd kissed the god but then he did something he had never done before in his life, he blushed a deep shade of red and ran away before anything could be said. What did he do now? He probably wouldn't see the trickster again so he didn't have to worry about awkward encounters, but he _wanted_ to see him again. But then he didn't want to see him again because he wouldn't know what to say... But he really wanted to see Loki again... What were they now? He felt guilt building up inside of him when he thought of how he stole a kiss from a god that would probably never forgive him – and probably didn't even feel the same. The god's lips were so soft and warm and perfect... 

“Tony? Tony, you still in the land of the living?” Clint was waving a hand in front of his face and he immediately snapped out of his daydreams.

“What? Oh, hey! Don't mind me...” 

“You zoned out a bit there, mate. Everyone's left now and I'm about to leave too.”

The billionaire half grinned and nodded in reply while Clint walked towards the elevator, “Have a safe journey, Legolas, I'll text you soon.” 

“Don't go disappearing off the face of the planet again any time soon!” Clint laughed just as the doors slid shut and the apartment was eerily silent.

He poured out a glass of the nearest alcohol, whiskey, and sipped at it while thinking about how weird it was to be alone again. Yeah, he loved being alone but he did miss having somebody around to idly chatter with. _Gonna have to get used to it, Tony._


	27. Normal

**Chapter 27 – Normal**

Eating. Working. Swearing. Drinking. Sleeping.

It had only been three days since he'd left Loki's apartment and already his routine was back to how it used to be. He worked endlessly on his suits, improving their abilities and attempting to weave a magic blocker into the design – so far he was failing epically but he was sure he'd get it soon. The only interruptions were the occasional text from one of his Avenger buddies, the need to eat or a sudden urge to pee.

He had woken up far too early in the morning and, unable to get back to sleep, went down to his workshop to continue his work. A quick glance at the computer screen told him that in the evening it would have been a week since he was turned into a kitten. _No, Tony, keep all thoughts away from... him._ He'd promised himself that he'd keep himself undistracted from his work by clearing his mind of every little thought about the god. No more thinking about his breathtaking magic or his voice or the kiss or- _Dammit Tony!_

He turned his thoughts back to moving holograms around his workshop; the vow to not think about Loki wasn't working as well as he would like because his mind kept wandering to the god at least twice... okay, a lot more than twice, a day. 

The tower might have been where he lived but his workshop was his home. It wasn't as familiar as his Malibu home but now Dum-E was here it was almost completely the same. Engine parts scattered around the workbenches in an organised chaos, the familiar smell of oil and the red paint used to make his suits perfectly crimson after every battle – in his opinion, scuffs made him look a bit less epic – as well as Jarvis telling him to get some sleep or to eat something or telling him something witty in response to his sarcastic comments.

The hologram spun round yet again, showing the right arm of his Iron Man suit hovering above the table with various wires added to the design. He'd lost all interest in mechanics by now and was sure he was just adding and removing the same part over and over again.

Checking the clock, he figured it was about the time that normal people had breakfast so the holograms were closed down as he left the room and trudged upstairs to his apartment, only pausing to ask Dum-E if he could tidy the floor. The sunlight from through the massive windows made him squint as he entered the empty living room on his quest to find food, wishing he'd purchased some curtains or removed the bloody things considering he was thrown out of one by- _Food first, daydreaming about him afterwards._

He only realised that he was dressed in Thor pyjamas when he caught a glimpse of his reflection in the toaster. The trousers were a bit too long and the sleeves had to be constantly rolled up so he could use his hands but they were the comfiest things he owned – even if they did have a fading picture of the thunder-god printed across his chest. He jumped when the toast popped out the top of his temporary mirror and the billionaire scowled at the burnt bread before grabbing the food and eating most of it in one bite, burning himself a bit in the process. 

People would assume that the daredevil Tony Stark would live an action-packed life all day, every day but in reality he was a pretty normal guy who lounged around the house, ate junk food and watched bad comedies when he was bored.

The normal day couldn't last forever though; while he was scrolling through articles on his tablet with the TV playing some random talent show he didn't care about in the background, the intercom buzzed and Jarvis announced that _“Master Thor Odinson has arrived and is requesting your presence.”_  

Tony sighed but didn't make any move to get up, “Fine, let him in.” 

He closed down an article about himself just as the elevator doors opened and Thor stepped into the apartment wearing his usual attire of armour and red cloak but without the hammer. _Carrying that heavy thing around all day must really hurt his arms..._

“S'up, Goldilocks?” 

“Man of iron, I hope I'm not interrupting anything.” 

Tony gestured to the arm chair opposite himself, “Nope, nothings been happening today. Sit.”

The thunder-god sat on the chair – which squeaked in protest at his godly weight, although most of that was probably muscle – and spoke a lot softer than he usually did, “I was wondering if you'd tell me more about that magic blocker you was making.” 

“The one Rudolf stole?” Thor nodded, ignoring the nickname used, “Well, it was made to block any magical attacks on us and possibly stop any mind controlling or magic portals and you get what I mean.”

The god nodded again, “I understand. Was there anything else it could do?”

“Hmm... I guess it could pick up a couple of radio stations if you tweaked a few wires but other than that I don't think there's much it could do. It wasn't even working properly when I was making it.” He felt terrible for lying to Thor because he was a nice guy but he just didn't know how to announce he stayed with Loki and didn't know how the god would take it – perhaps he'd spill the beans another day.

“Is there any way it could be used to affect magic in any other way?” 

“Doubt it.”

Thor stood up and headed back towards the door, “Thank you, I appreciate this information, I really do. I would love to stay but I must be heading back to Asgard.” _Oh, so_ that's _why he's in full armour._

“Okay, tell Odin I said hello!”

“I could postpone leaving if you'd like to chat for a bit longer?” He turned to face the billionaire with a smile.

“It's okay, I was about to go to bed anyway. Fly safe.”

The thunder-god huffed a laugh, “Goodnight then, Tony. Nice pyjamas by the way.”

Tony laughed out of embarrassment when he realised what he was wearing and watched the elevator doors slide shut behind Thor before he went to bed, hoping to get more sleep than the night before. _Who cares if it's only mid afternoon?_  

~x~

_"Tony."_

"Mmph..."

_"Tony!"_

"Leave me alone..."

He woke up pretty quickly when sharp claws dug into his thigh, bolting upright ready for a fight to see no attacker in the room, "Ha ha, very funny guys, now let me sleep."

_"This is of the utmost importance."_

The billionaire followed where the voice seemed to be coming from to see a black shape in the middle of his white duvet that wasn't there when he went to sleep. He wasn't sure if it was just his eyes but it moved a bit closer to him.

"What the-" Green eyes appeared amongst the black shape, eyes that he recognised almost immediately, "Loki?"


	28. Questions

**Chapter 28 – Questions**

The black ball of fluff transformed into the god of mischief so suddenly Tony had to blink quite a bit to make sure he wasn't seeing things.

"You'd think the security would be made better after the last time I was here..." The god muttered partially to himself.

"This is one weird dream."

"They just allow anybody in..." 

The billionaire blinked again and finally managed to think properly, "How are you even in here?"

Loki grinned as though he was expecting the question and morphed into Clint, still smirking as he sat there. As quickly as he had turned from a kitten to himself, he was now the archer dressed in a grey tracksuit, "Poor Clinton was worried for his friends safety and decided to check in on him." Even the voice was exactly identical and Tony leaned forward to pinch 'Clint' before pinching himself too. 

"Seriously weird dream..."

"Would you like me to pinch you to prove this is real?" Loki was back to his usual appearance again and looked on the verge of laughing. 

"Why did you turn into a kitten?"

"Waking up to see a cute animal is less scary and I didn't want to spook you."

"Didn't want to spook me?! You're sitting on my bed in the middle of the night!" 

"It's only about 9 o'clock..." 

"Still the middle of the night!"

He was desperately trying to get his head around what had just happened; he doesn't see Loki for three days and then the god is sitting on his bed but was a kitten and also Clint. 

"Nice pyjamas by the way." Loki's smile just seemed to be getting bigger and it was distracting the billionaire more than he would like to admit.

"Why are you even here?"

"So many questions,” the trickster sighed, “Let's just say I was bored."

"You was bored so you decided to chill with me in a tower infested with S.H.I.E.L.D. and Avengers popping up unannounced? You just missed bumping into your brother," Tony didn't know how to react and just decided to go with whatever came to mind, "Random slumber parties need to be planned in advance, you know, so the other people involved can plan ahead."

Loki looked sheepishly down at the duvet and played with a loose thread coming from the seam, "I thought you'd appreciate my presence, Thor said-" He stopped mid sentence but he'd already said enough to catch Tony's curiosity. 

"Thor said what exactly?"

"That you'd appreciate it..."

The billionaire shook his head slightly but decided not to press the issue – even if it was weird for Loki to be talking to his brother, let alone take his advice, “Doesn't the shape changing tire you?”

“A little bit, but it's nothing a god like me can't handle.” The smug, satisfied smile on Loki's face didn't look out of place one bit and it was verging on contagious – Tony's mouth was turning upwards at the corners to match. 

He pulled the duvet off of the side next to himself on the bed and patted the mattress, a question on his mind he may regret in the morning but he would make the most of the night before that moment, “The guest rooms haven't been cleaned recently, and this is the only bed available unless you want to sleep on the sofa where Avengers may walk in and see you... So, gonna continue our little night time sleeping regime?”

“Are you asking me to sleep with you, Anthony?” He raised an eyebrow but didn't decline the offer.

“Not in _that_ way.”

Loki crawled across the bed like a cat and slid in under the duvet to join him, and _dayum_ it was possibly the sexiest thing Tony had seen in his life, “Goodnight then.” _This is going to be awkward but so worth it._


	29. Thor

**Chapter 29 – Thor**

"I can tell you've been with Tony, your magic is all over him!"

"Could be anyone’s magic."

Thor sighed half-heartedly and ran a hand through his hair, "It _is_ your magic and he is wearing it like cheap deodorant.”

He'd decided to meet up with his brother before going back to Asgard and it took a grand total of three minutes before Thor could no longer hide the fact he knew about who Loki had been with. It was obvious that Tony had the god's magic sticking to his body, he could sense it immediately, and the billionaire's rather bad lying when on the topic of Loki gave it away. To be honest, Thor actually didn't mind them seeing each other – whether it was friends or something more – because it seemed to make the trickster happier and a teensy bit less irritated. But if Stark ever hurt Loki then, god help him, he would be incinerated to the ground before he could utter a witty response or put on one of his suits.

The trickster stopped his pacing and glanced over to his brother standing in the doorway, "Problem?" He couldn't deny that he'd been with Tony because he just couldn't deny his magic – it was unique to himself and nobody else.

"Did you kidnap him?"

"No, he came here willingly and managed to interrupt my spell. Now, if you have nothing else to say then I suggest you leave." Loki started pacing the living room again; his footsteps being muffled by carpet were the only noise for a long moment.

"You like him."

"I grew acquainted with him, yes."

"No! You lov-"

"Why are you still here?" He stopped and glared at the smirking thunder-god.

Thor shook his head knowingly and got ready to leave, “I think you should go back to Stark – I think he's missing you.”

~x~

Asgard. A bustling land that's bathed in the golden glow reflected off of the palace. The land of what humans consider immortals, even though they just live about a few thousand years longer. A place that's reliant on magic advancing all aspects of life yet still acts like the Vikings did.

In the palace, Odin was stood on a balcony with Thor, looking over the streets below while discussing the thunder-god's recent return. They talked for what seemed like ages about the Avengers and Midgard until, after a brief lull in conversation, the search for Loki was brought up.

"We have searched the realms – well, we can't go to the underworld but neither can he so it's pointless even considering it – and Loki is nowhere to be seen." Odin said with a distant look in his eye as he gazed out across the sky.

Thor nodded, relieved Heimdall had kept his promise, "What will happen now?"

"We search again." He stated as though it was obvious, "We start again, from the beginning, but with a more thorough search. If I have to, I will personally visit each realm so I will know if he's there. He can't hide forever."

Thor used all his willpower to keep emotion off his face; Jotenheim was visited first and then Midgard – it was mere days until Odin would find Loki. "What will you do when you find him?"

"I'm actually undecided," Odin started as he turned to go back into the palace, Thor following close behind, "If we lock him up then he'll just escape again and we will be in this situation again when he does, so part of me is entertaining the idea of... executing him where he stands."

"You can't do that!"

"I know, which is why I'm merely entertaining the thought. But if he gives me the reason to think him a threat then I will not hesitate."

Thor nodded and hoped that his brother wouldn't resort to his usual defence of violence when Odin found where he was hiding. If the trickster stayed calm then there was the possibility of proving he had changed from his old ways.

"I'm looking forward to visiting that _'Stark Tower'_ you mentioned while on Midgard."

"Why there?" The thunder-god panicked as he realised Loki was currently in Stark Tower if he had reunited with Tony like he'd been asked to, "It's highly unlikely Loki would be anywhere near the Avengers, let alone where one lives."

"I want to meet these new friends of yours."

~x~

Frigga had left her husband and son in peace as they discussed Midgard and walked down the newly rebuilt Bifrost to meet up with Heimdall, as she had been doing every week since he had escaped prison.

"Greetings, my queen." The gatekeeper turned to bow before her.

"Heimdall," she acknowledged with a nod, "How is my son?"

Thor had made Heimdall promise not to tell Odin where Loki was but he had never said anything against telling Frigga, as long as she didn't tell the king.

"He's still prospering peacefully," he knew Frigga had been told of Odin's plan to visit every realm and could almost feel her concern that the king wouldn't see that the trickster has changed.

"Is there anyway I can help him?"

"He'll be fine. He has something he never had before."

"What's that?"

"A friend."


	30. Nightmares

**Chapter 30 – Nightmares**

The blueprints for the missile didn't seem to make any sense to the billionaire. _I made this, it's written in plain English, why can't I read it?!_ Lines danced across the page whenever he looked at the text, the harsh blue paper hurting his eyes in the dim light.

He moved to stand up, to see if he wasn't the only one who was having reading problems, but was stopped abruptly by a sharp pain in his chest and a tugging sensation. Looking down in vague recognition, he saw wires erupting from a crude electromagnet nestled in his body, connected to a heavy power box on the desk he was sitting at. The darkness seemed to smother him in that moment when he realised his movement was constricted to the spot where he sat and something in the back of his mind said he should recognise where he is.

"They'll be back again soon, better be ready for when they do." A voice in the darkness spoke from somewhere near Tony but it echoed so he had no idea if they we're in front of him or behind him or even miles away.

"Where am I?" His voice was shakier then he would like it to be and the feeling that he should know his surroundings was really irritating him.

“You-” The voice replied in his calm manner but was interrupted by a massive explosion that shook the ground like an earthquake and gunfire in the distance. _Am I in a war?_ Another explosion rang out and it seemed to set something on fire as there was now an orangey glow around the walls, showing the wide cave walls surrounding him, tables covered in mechanical gear and blueprints scattered over part of the floor.

He picked up the battery-like box connected to his chest and tried to run away somewhere, anywhere, even though he couldn't see any doors in the walls. The fiery light gave the place an even more sinister feel and Tony was so focused on finding an escape it caught him off guard when he almost fell over a man sprawled on the floor, covered in stone dust. _Who... Oh!_

The billionaire crouched down, battery pack long forgotten, to see the man in obvious pain and at death's door, panicking and shaking from the strength at which the memories of Afghanistan returned, “Stay with me, Yinsen, don't go into the light. Seriously, you have so much to live for, don't die, please.”

“Run,” it was only just heard over the gunfire outside and was the man's last breath as he froze where he lay, dust no longer being blown away from his lips by his breath.

Before Tony could reply another voice from somewhere spoke, “Tony?” This person he recognised a lot quicker than Yinsen and it made his heart race quicker than it already was. _Loki?! He's been kidnapped too?_

He stood up to search for the god but as he reached his full height the world shifted out of focus and now he was standing on the balcony of Stark Tower and the city below was crumbling like in a disaster movie. Screams from the people being crushed by falling buildings were carried by the wind up to where he stood; he was going to summon a suit so he could help but the floor started to disappear from under his feet and he was falling.

Falling.

“Tony!”

“What?” The billionaire woke up from his dream with a jolt and had to spend a minute getting his breathing back under control, ignoring the fact he was sticky with sweat and there was tears in his eyes. 

He was grasping something that he didn't recognise as part of the duvet and blinked back the blurriness to see it was a long pale limb connecting to a shocked god of mischief. As quickly as he realised he was holding on to Loki he let go, the blood rushing to his face now being his biggest problem, “Sorry about that...” 

“It's alright. Are you okay?” The god looking flustered and scared was a new sight for the billionaire and he felt terrible for being the cause of it; it took him a few seconds to register Loki asked him a question and he nodded quickly as he curled up under the duvet, keeping a reasonable distance away and facing away from the trickster. 

With a small smile on his face that the billionaire would never see, Loki shut his eyes to go to sleep again and rubbed absent-mindedly at where his arm would get a bruise if he wasn't a god.


	31. Nervous

****Chapter 31 – Nervous** **

Tony wasn't allowed to keep the Loki-shaped indent in his floor after the attack on New York because Thor "didn't appreciate the mockery it made of a god". He'd high fived Bruce after he'd heard of how the Hulk had interrupted the god's little speech and thrown him around the room to shut him up. The windows had been replaced, obviously, during the renovations after the little pushy-out-of-window experience, and Tony had laughed when people called him brave for surviving it. "No bravery involved, just good timing and a convenient suit ready." That was what he'd told the press a few days after the battle (it would have been sooner, but he had exaggerated his 'trauma' quite a bit to defend his laziness.

The TV broke Tony's thoughts away from the floor and he watched the show it was switched to for a little; it showed a stereotypical couple waking up in bed and talking lovingly to each other as they began their morning routines. It was nothing like what had happened that morning – Tony had woken up to find he had been ditched by Loki and, after the initial worry that he had left, discovered that Loki was just curled up on the sofa, reading. They had said "Good morning", there had been a comment about Tony's pajamas again. That had been followed by a rant from Loki about how Thor thoughthe could just tell him what to do, and a few suggestions about where he could shove his opinions, and once that had died down, nothing else had been said.

He wondered what they were now. Technically, they slept together but they hadn't  _ slept _ together, and Tony didn't know what to think. Were they friends? Did Loki even have friends? _  What if there was a rule on Asgard that said only married people could sleep in the same bed? What if he had insulted Loki? What if they were technically dating now? _

_ Why did his stomach do a flip at the mere thought of them dating? _

The billionaire tried to get his thoughts back on track by doing some light reading of his own – his Wiki page. After a while (after he'd read about Thor, and considered asking Loki if the legends were true), he ended up on a page about the tesseract, which was referred to as the 'cosmic cube' by whoever wrote the page. There wasn't much written, only that the cube was otherworldly and magical, and Tony wondered what else the cube may be able to do; if it could open a portal into space, could it perhaps power his arc reactor? He'd love to study the tesseract, but he doubted Thor would allow it back on Earth again.

"Why was the tesseract taken to Asgard?" Tony accidentally spoke his thoughts out loud and turned to see that Loki hadn't even looked up from his book. They were sitting in the living room next to each other on one of the sofas – the god reading a book from the tower's library and Stark playing absent-mindedly on his phone.

"To keep it 'safe'." Loki spoke calmly as he turned the page in the leather bound book he was reading.  _ A Study in Scarlett? Very classic. _

"They should have let me keep it."

"Planning on world domination?" Loki drawled back while folding over the corner of a yellowing page.

To pass the time, Tony worked out that he'd been awake for about three hours, considering that it had been just past midday when he had dragged himself out of bed and made breakfast for the already awake Loki. When he focused again, he realized that Loki had asked a question that needed an answer. "No. It'd look pretty on my mantel."

"An object of infinite power and you describe it as  _ pretty? _ " The god sounded shocked, but not insulted, so Tony decided he didn't need to start apologizing or correcting what he had said.

"Yes, very pretty."

There was a lull in the conversation after that in which they both looked down at the book or phone in their hands. Tony's thoughts returned to their current relationship and, after a few minutes of absent-mindedly browsing random web pages, he plucked up the courage to voice his queries out loud, hoping that the god didn't just laugh at him.

"So... Erm... About, you know, what I did before I left your apartment..." Tony hesitated and drew in a deep breath to calm the anxious shivering that seemed to take over his body.

"Yeah?"

He looked down at the phone that was shaking along with his hand to stop himself from having to look over at the trickster, "What does that make us now? Because I'm going to be bold enough to say we're friends but..."

_ "Miss Potts is requesting entrance to the tower." _

Loki jumped, looking up to where the voice seemed to be coming from – the ceiling – in shock and then jumped again when Tony replied without even looking up. "Tell her I'm not decent and to wait a second."

Tony sighed as he realized he'd probably never get a perfect moment to ask Loki about their relationship ever again. He saw the god jump from the corner of his eye and chuckled a bit as he closed the web page he was browsing, turning to face Loki. "I'm guessing you haven't met Jarvis yet?"

"Where is he?"

"Everywhere." The billionaire couldn't help but smile maniacally when the trickster's eyes darted around the room as if he was expecting a butler to step out from behind the bed or out of the closet.

_ "Hello, Master Laufeyson." _ Jarvis said in the same patronizing tone as ever, also seeming to enjoy the god's confusion with technology.

"Hello?" Loki replied apprehensively, still looking to the ceiling to address the AI but then dropping his gaze to Tony when talking to him. "Does he not have a body?"

"Not unless I make him one – which I won't because of a fear of robots taking over-"

" _ Miss Potts is growing impatient and has entered the elevator." _

"Shit. Loki, you need to- Oh hi Pep!" He quickly turned to see the redhead walk into the living room, and prayed that Loki had disappeared in time.

"Hey Tony. Hi Steve. Jarvis didn't say you had company, Tony."

" _ Steve? _ " Stark looked at Pepper as though she was mad until he realized that 'Steve' was sitting where Loki just was. "Oh!  _ Steve! _ I zoned out for a bit there and forgot about ya, buddy!"

"No problem, Tony." Even the voice was exactly the same – the only thing that was kind of suspicious was that he was wearing his blue spandex outfit, which he never wore when he wasn't working, but Thor wore his armor all the time so it wasn't  _ that  _ bad. "I was waiting until you started listening to me again to say that gotta go. I'll see you again soon." He stood up, turning his head slightly so that Pepper didn't see him wink at Tony, then quickly strode over to the elevator, completely disregarding the woman who waited patiently for him to leave. The billionaire knew that Loki would be struggling to keep up the illusion, and he had to stop himself from laughing when he saw a flash of green light behind Pepper, followed by the trickster running towards Tony's bedroom just before the elevator doors closed.  _ Thank goodness Pep didn't turn around. _

"I haven't heard from you for weeks and there's a few important documents you need to sign." Pepper punctuated the statement by dropping a stack of papers onto the coffee table, narrowly missing a cup of tea.

Tony sighed and flicked through the papers casually. "Oh, I've been visiting a friend of mine."

"What's your new girlfriend's name then?"

"Who said it was a romantic interest?" The billionaire held his hand out for a pen without looking up, and felt one being dropped into his palm. "Can't I have normal friends that I just visit every now and then?"

"Tony, you don't have any friends other than the Avengers who you would visit for more than an hour." Pepper mentally patted herself on the back for being able to see through Tony so easily. "So, come on, what's her name?"

"Doesn't matter."

"It does."

"I wasn't visiting my  _ girlfriend _ !" Tony's cheeks started to flush and he occupied himself with reading the unimportant details on the document so he didn't have to look at Pepper.

"So it's a  _ man _ ?!" Pepper almost squealed when she received no response from the billionaire other than him suddenly holding a piece of paper up to his face. "Tony Stark has a  _ boyfriend _ !"

"I don't."

"Yes, you do!"

"I don't!" He lowered the paper from his face when he was sure his cheeks had returned to an almost normal color. "I like him but I'm not sure he likes me as much as I like him..."

Pepper smiled softly at him. "I'm pretty sure he likes you if he's put up with you for more than a day."

_ He only put up with me because he'd accidentally turned me into a cat and had to break the spell before I could leave.  _ "I kissed him before I left, and he didn't respond, so I kind of ran away... It hasn't been mentioned since and I think it's ruined our friendship."

"You really  _ do _ like him," she said as she picked up the papers that had now all been signed from the table. "And if he's still speaking with you after what's happened, I'm pretty sure he likes you as much as you like him. You probably just caught him by surprise."

"Heh, you're pretty good at this relationship advice thingy."

"I put up with you for so long that I learnt a thing or two." Pepper grinned at him and walked to the elevator, "I expect an invite to your wedding!"

Tony laughed and got up to find the trickster once Pepper had left – he had a  _ lot  _ of explaining to do if Loki had overheard their conversation. Part of him expected to see 'Steve' sitting there waiting for him but the room was empty. There was no sign that he'd even sat on the bed while waiting and there was nowhere else Loki could go without Tony seeing him walk behind Pepper.  _ Perhaps he wandered out while I had that sheet of paper to my face? _

"Loki?" He scanned the empty room again and hurried to check the living room, the kitchen, the bathroom, but there was no sign of the god anywhere and he started to get worried. "Jarvis, where's Loki?"

" _Mr Laufeyson isn't in the building."_


	32. Asslamp

**Chapter 32 – Asslamp**

 

"Delete that one, now!" Clint snatched the phone and was just about to confirm the deletion when Bruce snatched it back.

"Hey, I liked that one!" He scrolled through a couple more photos and his eyes widened in shock when he saw one of him sleeping under a table. "That one's being deleted."

"If I can't delete embarrassing pictures of myself then you can't either."

"Damn you, Clint."

Bruce had found the photos from the party eventually – they were in Thor's sock drawer, how typical – and uploaded them onto his phone so everybody could look at them without having to bear the stink of the thunder-god's socks that didn't seem to fade. Clint had joined him almost immediately in the tower once he'd announced that he had the photos, probably because he was trying to remove all embarrassing photos of himself before Tony got hold of them. The last time the archer had taken a nap in Stark Towers, a picture of him with a drawn-on mustache was on every screen in New York faster than he could shoot an arrow.

Now that he thought about it, there wasn't one awkward photo of Tony at all. "Hey, Bruce, are there  _ any  _ humiliating pictures of Tony?"

Bruce scrolled through a few photos and then zoomed out to check all of them; every time, Tony looked like an airbrushed model from a magazine even when he was obviously hammered. All the other Avengers had at least one picture in which they didn't look their best – there were about five of Thor covered in pink glitter and feathers, and even one photo of Natasha singing karaoke with Phil. "Nope. That asslamp is too damn photogenic."

"I bet he has some program installed into Jarvis to delete all embarrassing photos immediately."

The two jumped at Jarvis' sudden interruption. " _ Master Stark does have a few compromising photos in my database." _

Clint looked up at the ceiling ecstatically. "Jarvis, you are a saint and if I could hug you I would."

"Hug?" Bruce raised an eyebrow at the archer.

Clint rolled his eyes. "You know, a display of affection in which one person wraps their arms around another person? You're supposed to be the genius here..."

"I  _ do _ know what a hug is, Clint, I'm not an idiot! You just don't seem like the hugging type."

"I hug people all the time!" To prove his point, he pulled Bruce into a bone-crushing hug, "See?"

"Okay, I believe you!" The scientist said breathlessly before a flash filled the room and Clint immediately pushed the scientist away so hard he fell off of the sofa.

There was a long silence, during which the two Avengers looked around the room suspiciously before Jarvis spoke:  _ "Photo saved in Master Stark's secure data files." _

"Jarvis, man, you were supposed to be on our side! You betrayed us!" Clint crossed his arms grumpily and Bruce scrambled back onto the sofa.

" _ Taking photos of compromising situations is also in my programming. The flash wasn't supposed to be on, though." _

Clint huffed, arms still crossed. "Dude, just give us a picture of Tony in an embarrassing situation."

" _ As you wish, Master Barton." _ Bruce's phone buzzed shortly after that and he opened the message, with Clint peering over his shoulder, to see a little dark brown kitten with a white circle on its chest.  _ "This was uploaded by a mysterious individual earlier." _

Clint awwed at the picture but stopped immediately when he saw the confusion on Bruce's face.

"Erm, Jarvis?" Bruce's voice was mystified.

" _ Yes, Master Banner?" _

"This is a kitten, not Tony."

" _ I can assure you it identifies as Master Stark." _

The archer raised a skeptical eyebrow. "... Yeeeaah.. Jarvis, Tony wasn't a cat last time I checked. This is just a stray from outside the tower; I saw it last week, I'd recognize that white circle of fur anywhere."

"I think Jarvis is glitching, we'll have to tell Tony." Bruce sighed.

"I'll do it if you delete that awful photo of me. Hey, Jarv, is Tony in?"

The scientist couldn't be bothered to argue and was too comfy to move. "Deal." He picked up his phone and went back to scrolling through the photos.

" _ As a matter of fact, Master Stark returned just a few minutes ago." _

"Right, I'll be right back."

~x~

Hasty footsteps alerted Bruce to his comrade's return. "You're back earlier than I expected. Did Tony say he'd fix Jarvis?" There was no reply from Clint, just footsteps hurrying closer. "Oh, I deleted that photo, by the way." He looked up from his phone just to have Clint's phone shoved in his face with a picture on the screen.

"Look at this picture I just took. Just look." The archer's heavy breathing gave away that he'd just ran up the five flights of stairs separating Tony's floor from Bruce's.

"Is that-"

"Yes."

"Eating the face off of-"

"Yes."

"..."

"I know, I thought he was in prison too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to thank my best friend for telling me that it's socially acceptable to name a chapter Asslamp...


	33. Secret's Out

**Chapter 33 – Secret's Out**

 

_"Mr Laufeyson isn't in the building."_

"Well, where is he?" Tony had double checked the apartment and was now standing helplessly in the living room looking out of the window at the buildings below.

_"As I said, Sir, not in the building."_

Tony sighed, "Scan the entire Stark Tower and then scan New York and the all of America and then the entire world if you have to."

_"Right away, sir. Scan of Stark Tower commencing. Estimated time until completion: 2 minutes."_

About twenty seconds passed before Tony broke the silence with a groan and began pacing in front of the windows, "This is taking too long! It'd be quicker for me to just put on my suit and look for Loki while flying. It _would_ be quicker to assemble the Avengers but it'd take too long explaining the situation to them and-" He saw a figure appear and turned quickly to see Loki looking at him with a puzzled expression on his face and a cardboard box in his hands.

"Why are you talking to yourself?"

_"Mr Laufeyson is in the building."_

"Thanks, Jarv," Tony muttered to the ceiling before glaring at the trickster, "I was worried about where you were! Practically all of the nine realms have a price on your head and you just disappear randomly without a warning – you could've been anywhere!"

"I went to get some of my clothes since I assumed I'd stay here instead of my shabby apartment and it would be more convenient to have my stuff here."

"Can't you just magic up some clothes like when you were impersonating Steve?"

"I can't keep up illusions for long-"

"Why didn't you tell me where you went?"

"You were talking to the red-headed woman and I thought I'd be back before she left."

"You didn't even leave a note!"

Loki's usual smug appearance seemed a bit more sheepish and he averted his eyes to the box he was holding, "I won't do it again."

The billionaire started pacing again to calm himself down. "I thought I would never see you again," he admitted in a quieter tone.

Loki put the box down on the coffee table, walked over to Tony and put a hand on his shoulder to stop the pacing, making their faces just inches apart. "Tony, you know I wouldn't leave you and I'm sorry for any worry I caused."

Anything else the god was going to say was cut off by the billionaire pressing their lips together in another kiss that was much less awkward than the first time and lasted a lot longer. They broke apart after a few minutes, panting and clinging on to each other with grins on their faces.

"You're forgiven, just don't do it again." Tony went to kiss the taller man again when their little perfect moment was ruined by Clint and Bruce bursting into the room.

"Oh my..." Bruce breathed out as he turned to make sure Clint was seeing what he was.

"I told ya so."

"Maybe it's just an illusion?" Bruce was staring in disbelief at the couple who were just staring back silently and hadn't moved at all.

"Good point. Jarvis, is this actually happening?"

_"Masters Stark and Laufeyson are not an illusion, Agent Barton."_

"Erm, hi guys. Ever heard of knocking?" Tony seemed annoyed and didn't make any attempt to free himself from the god's grasp.

"Hello, Barton. Fancy seeing you again." Loki winked at the archer, grinning at how he glared even more.

Clint exchanged another look with Bruce before letting his anger out, "What the _hell_ are you doing with _him_ , Stark? A villain escapes from prison and instead of warning us all, your first instinct is to try and sleep with him? I preferred it when this was just fanfic..." Bruce put a hand on Clint's shoulder in an attempt to calm him and was surprised that the Hulk hadn't made an appearance yet – although he was ready to transform at any moment and add more Loki-shaped indents to the floor.

Tony unwrapped his arms from around Loki and put his hands up in a non-threatening gesture, "It's not what you think-"

"I'm telling Fury and getting that bastard shipped off to Asgard again."

"Clint, no!" Tony moved towards the archer and looked up pitifully at Bruce to try and get support from him.

"I have photographic evidence," Clint stood his ground but had at least ten escape routes planned.

"Surely we can come to an agreement?" Tony was now stood in front of the two Avengers with Loki still stood where he was, "I'll buy you _anything_ you want!"

"Why are you sticking up for the god who tried to kill you not long ago?" Bruce questioned, keeping an eye on Loki to make sure he wasn't about to kill them all.

"Because, y'know..." The billionaire's sentence trailed off and he shuffled around a bit, "He's not as bad as you think, he's actually really nice, and he helped me out and I've forgiven him for what he did to New York because he was brainwashed and I may or may not love him, okay?"

"Have you brainwashed him?" This question was aimed at Loki instead and it took him by surprise.

"No! I can't do that without my staff anyway."

Bruce and Clint seemed to have a mental argument between them before the scientist turned to Tony again, "Now, what was that about buying us 'anything'?"  
  
---  
  
 


	34. Sorry

**Chapter 34 - Sorry**

Clint had really abused Tony's promise to buy him anything and that was why he was now up in his room - as he had been for the past couple of days - playing video games on his new, huge TV. It hadn't even been a week yet and already Tony was annoyed at the never-ending lists that Clint would hand him, demanding that everything was delivered the next day. The billionaire didn't even care anymore, he just let Jarvis scan the paper and then order all of the items; as long as the secret was safe, Tony was happy. Bruce, on the other hand, had just wanted some new clothes and Tony gladly bought him them, pleased that it was easy enough to stop the other two Avengers from spilling his secret.

It was a quiet day in the tower and Tony made the most of this by lounging on the sofa with Loki, introducing him to the wonder that is daytime TV. They liked the change of mood that had occurred in the past couple of days, with them not as wary of the other Avengers, and they were considering telling Nat and Thor when they next saw them. The only thing stopping Tony from shouting about his new relationship from the rooftops was the fact that Loki was still a war criminal and still in need of a punishment. Although people would eventually find out, Tony would rather deal with that when it happened.

The elevator dinged, which Tony just dismissed as Clint coming with more demands until the very familiar voice of Thor echoed round the room and made him jump, "Why does Barton have a new TV? I thought you refused to buy him anything ever again after the blender incident?"

Tony looked between Thor  and Loki, worried that Thor was going to go mad if he saw Loki, and was more surprised when Thor just sat opposite the two of them and barely regarded Loki. The thunder-god was dressed in his full Agsardian gear and seemed a bit uncomfortable in his outfit as he attempted to get comfy on the sofa.

"Thor, how nice of you to visit," the billionaire wondered why Loki hadn't disguised himself or disappeared and decided to try and explain himself, "This isn't what it looks like. We-"

"I know about the two of you being in a relationship and I'm very happy for you both," Thor smiled at both of them but it didn't disguise that something was troubling him, "I'm afraid there's a problem, though. Odin wishes to visit Stark Tower to meet my fellow Avengers."

“Just tell him to not visit here,” Tony instantly replied, wondering if the solution was really that simple, “Or just Loki to leave for the day.”

“It’s not that simple, he will be able to sense Loki’s magic all over this place, regardless of where Loki is. I knew about your relationship due to the magic stuck all over you.” _Ah, that_ is _a problem._

“Couldn’t he sense Loki’s magic all over you?”

“Magic is very common on Asgard and it is different to decipher the different types of magic. On Midgard, however, it is barely used so Loki’s magic will stand out instantly.”

“Just tell Odin to fuck off,” Tony sat up defensively, not wanting to accept that there was almost nothing he could do, but there was blatant fear across his face.

Thor looked as though he wanted to either agree or argue but just sighed, “I can’t. You know I can’t.”

“If it makes your lives easier,” Loki spoke up for the first time in the conversation and it quickly drew all of the attention to him, “I’ll hand myself in with no fuss.”

Tony’s head whipped around to face the trickster in bewilderment, “No!” He looked over to Thor and saw that he also looked as though he didn’t agree with the idea, “Thor, you _can’t_ let him do this!”

“I wouldn’t suggest it but-”

“Thor,” Loki glared over at his brother, “I know what I’m doing and I don’t want either of you to be punished for associating with a criminal.”

“What’s Loki’s punishment?” Tony hoped with all his might it wasn’t anything too harsh, even though Loki _did_ cause the deaths of countless people.

Thor considered telling the both of them about Odin ‘entertaining the idea of execution’, but decided that the news had already been emotionally traumatising enough as it is. “Before Loki escaped, it was about 500 years but I’m assuming it will be increased greatly.”

Tony grabbed Loki’s hand, not caring that Thor was watching them, “Please, Loki, don’t hand yourself in.”

Loki stayed silent as he averted his eyes from Tony to instead look out of the windows at New York, the city that he had grown fond of and regretted destroying not that long ago. He had to go to Asgard - he couldn’t put Tony and Thor at risk - but he didn’t know how to tell them; Thor would be reluctant but understanding, Tony though… He knew how Tony would react and it would not be in favour of his decision.

“Loki, listen to me,” Tony pleaded, “I don’t care if I end up with consequences too, I can’t just let you do something like this. I’ll find a way to hide you or stop Odin coming or convince him that you’re good now or _anything_.”

Thor sighed, “I didn’t want to have to do this but if you want to face the wrath of Odin, then I can’t stop you.” He moved to go to the balcony, where he would summon the Bifrost, “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Tony saw how Loki’s eyes followed Thor to the balcony and he squeezed the god’s hand in reassurance. _We’ll get through this, I’ll think of a plan._

Thor gave the two of them one last look before he yelled to the sky and rainbow-coloured light swirled around him.

The hand Tony was holding vanished and he didn’t have time to look round at Loki before he saw the trickster running towards Thor. He jumped up off his seat and ran after the god, getting to the doors just as he saw Loki grab hold of Thor’s cape and turn back to him.

“I’m sorry!”

Tony could just stand there in shock as he saw the two gods suddenly vanish in a flash of light, feeling numb.

Loki had just delivered himself directly to Odin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everybody who's reading this! Thank you so much for still supporting and enjoying the work I made so long ago and I apologise that it's taken so long for me to come back to it.
> 
> To be honest, I originally started this fic out of spite because I was trying to prove to somebody that I was able to write something that wasn't a self-insert. As people started to get interested in my work, I extended the original idea to something I wasn't able to keep up with at 14/15 years old and inexperienced at writing - hence why some chapters seem extremely rushed.
> 
> I was going through my old work and nearly deleted this before I read the kind comments that people have left over the years. If you're one of the people who asked for when this will update, I'm so sorry that I abandoned this and left you waiting for more. I won't make empty promises that I will ever continue this fic but if I ever regain my love for this fandom again, I will find my original notes and give you all the happy ending I know you deserve. If you want some form of closure to this fic after reading the other 30+ chapters, come find me on tumblr @vikituri and I'll see what I can find for you.
> 
> Thank you again for reading this. If it wasn't for this fic, I wouldn't have gone on to produce more work and I am eternally grateful that people are still enjoying my early work.
> 
> ~Viki


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